As Canada again dealt with massive forest fires, the growing severity of natural disasters is to have the reduction effect of increasing the demand for water bomber aircraft, and will pass years before Canada has a new one in their hands.
The prime ministers gathered in Saskatchewan this week, one of the provinces currently holding for forest fires. They mainly gathered to discuss the main infrastructure projects, but several ministers spoke with journalists about the treatment of forest fire situation.
The Prime Minister of Manitoba, Wab Kinew, whose province has also seen thousands fleeing forest fires in recent weeks, mentioned that his government is waiting for an order of water bombers, but does not expect them to be delivered soon.
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“We could use all the water bombers that we can have in our hands. We will need more water bombers in the future,” Kinew told journalists on Monday in Saskatoon.
The Manitoba government made an initial payment of $ 80 million in three new water bombers earlier this year. But they will only be ready for fire seasons 2031 and 2032.
Manitoba Prime Minister Wab Kinew says that the province has received “surprising” assistance in its fight against forest fires, adding that Canada will have to deal with future fire seasons most similar to it, which means expanding our fire fighting capacity. “
“We are in this challenge of having to answer during an emergency situation by taking pieces that we have at our disposal,” Kinew said.
A good part of the Canadian water bombers fleet is composed of amphibious forests called CL-415 and an older CL-215 model.
The ‘spine’ to fight forest fires
John Gradek, Professor of Aviation Management at McGill University, calls CL-415 the “spine” of the Canadian fire fighting fleet.
But CL-415 has not been manufactured in a decade. Bombardier sold the rights of the model in 2016. Havilland Canada, the new manufacturer, began building a factory near Calgary in 2022 to produce a newer model.
The company told CBC News that production at that plant has begun, but has several online orders, even international buyers.
“To date, we have received 22 orders from the EU Member States and we are in conversations with several Canadian and European clients to grow their fleets. Now we are in production and we are increasing to meet the current and future demand,” said the company in a statement sent by email.
Ontario Prime Minister Doug Ford said his province is also online for new aircraft.
“Ontario has about 11 bombers. We ask for another six more water bombers … The problem is that they are now late,” he said on Sunday.
“They are produced in Alberta, God bless you. But it takes four years to produce more water bombers.”
It seems that the Europeans beat Canada. European orders They were in their place already in 2022. Only Canadian governments Began to make orders following the forest fire season 2023 – The worst that the country has seen.
Gradek said European clients will probably get their planes in the coming years, but Canada will have to wait.
“The demand for these aircraft has shot in the last four or five years as a result of climate change,” he said.
As Canada continues to see severe forest fires, at least one province is bringing to its fleet. Newfoundland and Labrador announced this spring that would be Repair of a CL-415 that had been out of service since 2018.
Gradek said he hopes to see other provinces follow that example, saying that some are already “cannibalizing” older CL-214 models for pieces.
“They are borrowing and stealing pieces on land on land to keep their regular fleet afloat,” he said.
Ford said Sunday that the ongoing fires emphasize the need for Canada to have a national forest fire strategy.
“We need that national strategy to ensure that when problems like this occur, we have the resources, we have the water bombers,” Ford said.
“We need a total fleet just in our great country.”
Gradek agreed that it is time for Canada to have a nationalized fleet of water bombers.
“We have reached the point where climate change will further aggravate the scenario we have,” he said.
