Pilot OK, But Water Tanker Lost In BC Fires
The CBC reports that a Plane fighting wildfire crashes into Okanagan Lake
A waterbomber battling the Terrace Mountain fire north of Kelowna, B.C., has crashed into Okanagan Lake.
In a written release, the Kelowna RCMP said two boats in the area responded right away and rescued the pilot, who was taken to a local hospital with minor injuries.
The cause of the crash hasn’t been determined.
They are making some progress on the fires because of better weather conditions, including some rain, but they won’t be out for a while.
5 comments
Ouch! Very glad the pilot is OK! And I hope everyone in the fire areas is being smart and staying safe!
We are just bracing for our next fire season already. It would be very surprising as we usually don’t think about it until around Sept., but that last season was very bad, and people are still worried. The preliminary report on the last seasons debacle is in and it’s not pretty. A lot of stupid (and IMHO criminally negligent) decisions were made and things not done, or done badly by Gov and various agencies. So now they are all scrambling like mad, even though the final report isn’t ready and things will change! It bothers me… I keep thinking “Fools rush in…” etc. *sigh* On the plus side, there isn’t much left to burn. 😐 Talk about black humor.
Merde. One less plane to share with CA.
Glad to hear the pilot is OK, though. Fixed wing aircraft through fire area…CRAZY DANGEROUS.
.-= ´s last blog ..More Peruvian Paso perusing? =-.
It was a small “scooper” which is more that a bit tricky to pull off. Most people don’t understand how “hard” water gets, when you hit it at speed.
Yeah, Kryten, the manning standard for public safety is “too many people if nothing happens, and not enough for more than a single incident.” After the Howard years I’m surprised they hadn’t privatized fire fighting.
Everyone wants maximum protection, but politicians want to show their worth by cutting budgets. They cut things that they don’t think voters will notice, and they don’t until there is a problem – like a major fire or a bridge that wasn’t maintained collapses.
Dig your slit trench, get a “space blanket” and a wool blanket to soak to go over the trench, and have a cooler full of ice, because the weather patterns don’t look like they are going to improve.
Low and slow is always dangerous, Jill, and the air over a major fire creates its own turbulence. The French use pilots from their Air Force flight demonstration team for aerial fire fighting.
Funny how none of the papers here are highlighting the major fires burning in Canada and Europe. It’s not like CA is alone in being “crispy”
.-= ´s last blog ..Canada approves Monsanto/Dow GM corn =-.
It is amazing that traffic arrests in LA will be announced around the world, but no one notices that a major European city, like Marseilles can be threatened by wildfire without being mentioned.
If it doesn’t happen near a major US city, no one seems interested in covering it.
Because CNN is based in Atlanta, it gets more coverage than Chicago.
The media have eliminated their ability to cover the news, and we are all poorer for it.