Although forests are still ablaze in many parts of the province, the 2015 fire season is apparently over for the Hawaii Mars water bomber. The 30-day contract between the B.C. government and the company that owns the giant aircraft has ended.
The Hawaii Mars, which started its existence as a U.S. Navy transport plane at the close of the Second World War, is a seasoned veteran. It and its sister plane, the Philippine Mars, entered firefighting service in B.C. in 1963.
They were purchased by the Port Alberni-based Coulson Group in 2007 and continued to be effective tools in fighting fires in B.C. and elsewhere in western North America. The throaty roar of four huge engines and the bright red-and-white livery signalled to British Columbians that serious help was on the way.
In 2013, the B.C. government did not renew its firefighting contract with Coulson, saying that smaller aircraft could do the job more efficiently.
The Hawaii Mars has been parked on Sproat Lake near Port Alberni since then. (The Philippine Mars was retired to become part of the National Naval Aviation Museum in Florida.)
But as fires raged across the province this summer, the Hawaii Mars was called out of retirement, and the familiar 91原创 Island icon took to the skies again. It can scoop up 27,250 litres of water in about 30 seconds, and this year, it dropped about a million litres on B.C. fires.
The government would do well to start making arrangements now to use the Mars for the 2016 fire season. Firefighting resources have been stretched to the limit and beyond this year, and there鈥檚 every indication next year could be as bad or worse.
The Sproat Lake-based bomber is a valuable, proven firefighting tool that should not be overlooked.
