More water bombers from Quebec are on their way to fight the fires in California, bringing the total to four, but operating these planes is no simple task.
As the water bombers skim the ocean scooping up to 6,000 litres of water in barely 12 seconds, pilots like Pascal Duclos fight fierce winds and rough seas — a far cry from operating on Canadian lakes
“It’s different for the bottom of the plane on the ocean … So, if the waves and the swell is too big, that’s the point we cannot go anymore,” said Duclos, chief pilot at Quebec’s transport ministry.
The water bombers have been key to assisting California firefighters on the ground. Duclos says the conditions are very different from Canadian forest fires.
“The biggest challenge was certainly the wind and the turbulence we have as well as the downdraft. So, you can imagine when we go in the canyon there with that kind of wind and you drop the water, you have to get out from there. So, you had to do what I can, full power to get out of there and just make it turn as quickly as possible to go back and reload and return,” he explained.
Then, there was the drone that hit one of the planes. The pilot didn’t notice it during the flight.
“When they hit the drone, there was no feeling on the side of the plane. So the pilot did not realize what [happened],” said Maxine Gervais, a Montrealer living in LA with her firefighter husband.
The plane has now been fixed, and could resume flying as early as tomorrow. But as dangerous as flying the water bombers may be, the firefighters on the ground are equally at risk, she said.
The hope now is that changing wind patterns will finally allow firefighters to get the massive wildfires under control.
