Borrowed water bombers help contain fast-moving Halifax wildfire

Nova Scotia has had to borrow water bombers to combat the wildfire in Halifax.

Nova Scotia doesn’t have its own fixed-wing water bombers, so when wildfires break out, the province must rely on other regions for that kind of aerial support.

That was the case Tuesday when a fast-spreading wildfire broke out in the Bayers Lake business park area, near Halifax.

A Halifax firefighter, among the first on scene but who wasn’t authorized to speak to media, told CTV News that without the two fixed-wing water bombers that came from New Brunswick, the fire would have spread further out of control.

“Without those two water bombers we would have been in deep trouble,” said the fire fighter. “They were coming over the buildings and clearing them by thirty feet over the roof and dousing the flames.”

Denyse Sibley, chief pilot and operations manager at the Debert Airport, was flying a wildfire surveillance flight in the Halifax area, when her spotter Matt Power, received a text from a relative saying there was heavy smoke spotted in the Bayers Lake area.

They were close in their Cessna plane and in seconds spotted the fire that was quickly growing out of control.

“We were the first ones there, said Sibley. “And it was just this plume of black and white smoke.”

They radioed the location to the Department of Natural Resources and flew some patterns in the area, to give tracking and location details to other aerial responders.

Soon, a provincial helicopter with a water bucket arrived along with two fixed-wing water bombing planes, said Sibley, that were involved in aerial fire fighting in New Brunswick.

The two aircrafts scooped water from nearby Governors Lake in Beechville and pounded the flames.

“I was in awe at the teamwork,” added Sibley. “I have been involved in spotting fires but never to the degree that we had to have the bombers come.”

On Thursday, there were four helicopters flying in Nova Scotia and dealing with wildfires that are still considered out of control. But the province confirmed there are no airplane water bombers helping at this point on Thursday, as they are in demand across the country.

“We are doing our best to coordinate regionally and even nationally to see what’s available, but there’s a number of provinces dealing with some challenging situations right now,” said Scott Tingley, forest protection manager with Nova Scotia’s Department of Natural Resources.

The province recently purchased four firefighting helicopters. Premier Tim Houston told reporters on Wednesday that they are sufficient in fighting most wildfires across the province but said government will re-evaluate whether airplanes are needed, but called this wildfire situation and drought conditions “unprecedented.”

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