Jon Large was coming back from a fire in British Columbia on July 26, 2017 with a Parks Canada team and while at a debrief in Kamloops grabbed these photos. Thanks Jon!
Air tankers at Kamloops
Air Spray readies an air tanker for Alberta 3 weeks ahead of schedule
Maintenance crews at Air Spray were able to prepare Air Tanker 489 three weeks earlier than scheduled so it could be used in Alberta.
Video of Tanker 489 dropping on a fire in B.C.
The video shows multiple retardant drops by Air Spray’s Tanker 489, a Lockheed Electra, on a fire in Kokanee Creek Provincial Park in British Columbia (map).
Here is the description provided by the videographer:
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“Published on 4 Jul 2015
Fire season has arrived in the Kootenays! This video was taken July 3rd, 2015 showing the new small forest fire near Kokanee Creek Provincial Park towards Kokanee Glacier. This video features many of the aircraft involved in battling the blaze including water bombers, air tankers and helicopters with bambi buckets.
–The aircraft featured in this video include:
–Air Spray Lockheed L-188 Electra Airtanker
–Air Spray Twin Commander 690 Birddog C-FZRQ
–Cessna Caravan Birddog
–Selkirk Mountain Helicopters Aerospatiale AS 350 B-2 C-GSKL with water bucket
–Air Spray Air Tractor 802 Fire Boss Amphibious Tanker Plane
This was my first time ever seeing aircraft fighting a wildfire in person and it was truly an impressive sight. It was especially cool seeing the massive Electra turboprop diving down into the valley near Kokanee Creek Park and dumping fire retardant onto the flames.”
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BONUS VIDEO
This video of an MD-87 dropping on a fire in Laguna Canyon in southern California on July 3, 2015 is shot from pretty far away but you can clearly see the retardant and after the drop, the air tanker as it exits the area closer to the camera. It looked like an excellent drop. I could not make out the tanker number.
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BONUS VIDEO #2, added July 9, 2015
I found this video today, and it looks like the same air tanker, the MD-87, making another drop on the fire in Laguna Canyon. It’s interesting how at 0:48 it disappears into a canyon while making the drop.
Slow-motion video of Lockheed Electra L-188 retardant drops
A Lockheed Electra L-188 air tanker, #489, dropping in slow motion on a wildfire. The date, location, and videographer (other than the logo at bottom-right) are unknown.
The wake turbulence as the aircraft passes through the smoke at 2:45 is very interesting, as is the precision drop at 1:45, keeping the retardant off the rocks in an area that is highly visible to recreationists on the nearby lake.
In August of 2012 Wildfire Today ran a photo of Tanker 489 dropping on the Taylor Bridge Fire.
Thanks go out to Chris
Taylor Bridge fire burns 60 homes in Washington
The Taylor Bridge fire has burned approximately 60 homes 4 miles southeast of Cle Elum and 4 miles northwest of Ellensburg, Washington. Several communities are under evacuation orders.
The fire has blackened 28,000 acres of grassland, sage brush, and timber and is 10 percent contained.
The map of the Taylor Bridge fire above shows that the fire was producing few large sources of heat that could be picked up by the satellite when it passed over the area at 1:13 p.m. PT on Wednesday.
On Wednesday firefighters are focusing on the Sun Light Waters area on the southwest side of the fire, as well as the northern perimeter in the Hidden Valley area.