By Alex Soloducha

Pilots grounded due to smoke, unable to help with fire efforts

Jun 30, 2015 | 5:40 PM

As fires continue to rage in the north, smoke fills the province of Saskatchewan.

At the same time, air traffic has been grounded in both Prince Albert and La Ronge, meaning water bombers from the two major communities are unable to assist in the efforts for the time being.

Fred Jorgensen, a Bird Dog pilot, has been flying for 20 years and working with the Saskatchewan Government for a decade.

“In the 10 years that I’ve been on, this has been the worst year that I’ve seen so far,” he said. “Just with the extremely dry conditions and the number of fires that have popped up — and the number of intense fires that have come up — we don’t seem to have the resources to be able to handle them all.”

Smoky conditions have made their jobs even more difficult — and lately impossible—and they are unable to see what lies in front of them.

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“Today (Tuesday), where the visibility is reported to be half a mile, it unfortunately keeps us on the ground,” said Jorgenson. “Right now we’re unable to take off due to the smoky, low-visibility conditions.”

However, they have a back-up plan in place, meaning the efforts are not completely at a standstill.

“We have spread our groups out throughout different bases so we don’t get smoked in. We have a group in Buffalo Narrows which is able to [take off] and have been dispatched on several fires in their area,” said Jorgenson.

The rest of them remain on alert at the airport, waiting for the visibility to pick up.

“As soon as it does, we’ll be out there as well,” he said.

As the Bird Dog pilot, Jorgenson acts as a guide, so visibility is important.

“The Bird Dog acts as what I call the ‘fire chief’ over a fire,” he said. “The pilot will control air traffic control of the fire zone, whether it be with the helicopters, support aircrafts, tankers.”

He flies in formation with the tankers to demonstrate where drops of water need to be made.

“There’s the one pilot, then there’s also the air attack officer, he’s the tactical officer, he comes up with the strategy for attacking the fire, relays to the tankers where he wants the drops to be made, and we just go from there,” said Jorgenson. “Then we’ll pop up top and watch the entire scene from a little higher up.”

When a new fire pops up, they’re dispatched to the area.  The head office in Prince Albert prioritizes fires and they’ll dispatch us to where they feel is most important. Sometimes, they’re dispatched for one fire and averted multiple times to different fires in the one flight.

It’s been a lot of work, but they’ve had extra help this year. Currently, two planes from Quebec are in Saskatchewan with more on the way. Another plane is coming in from Newfoundland.

Jorgensen said the added equipment and staff has helped them ‘tremendously’.

“It’s almost doubled our water-based fleet, or our amphibious fleet,” said Jorgenson. “The more water we can get on a fire, the faster the better it is.”

Along with the aircrafts, they also have as many crews on the ground as possible.

“The aircraft alone cannot put out a fire,” said Jorgenson. “It’s ground people that have to go in and make sure the fire is no longer smouldering and is actually out.”

They have constant radio communications between both groups.

According to Jorgenson, their pilots are being careful to follow safety standards, but they’re eager to get back in the air.  

“We’d absolutely love to be out there fighting fires but unfortunately the visibility and the safety issue keeps us on the ground at the present time,” he said.

We will have updates on the story as they come in.

asoloducha@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alex_soloducha