November 6 2013

Summer of Paint Lake Helitac

           Starting with the new flying outfit recently had me reflecting on all the extraordinary aircraft I've been able to work around over the last few years.  There's no way to fully appreciate just how awesome some of these airplanes are.  Over the last summer, I worked on the Paint Lake Helitac base, 25 minutes south of Thompson, MB.  Fighting fires alongside water bombers and helicopters made for many unforgettable experiences.  Hopefully this compilation of pictures can do some justice to pay proper tribute to the fire program for all the hard work that the Initial Attack Fire Rangers have to do.  I'll likely do a blog entry eventually for photos unrelated to the aircraft involved in fighting the fires.

 All the birds assembling on base at Paint Lake, Manitoba

Installing sprinkler setups in Ilford, Manitoba as part of a value protection team

 Fire retardant dropped from an aircraft creating a nonburnable barrier to protect the town

 The entire sky was on fire that day on Fire #65. Collectively, we were all successful in steering the damage around Ilford as it continued to creep towards Gillam.

 The forest fire grazed the edge of the town as we retreated to safety.  There's no stopping a 40,000 hectare fire with a few water hoses, so we moved to higher ground to let the water bombers give their best efforts.

 Thompson water bombers doing what they do best.

Our departure pick-up from a swamp.  The helicopters can't land amongst the trees, so if there are no swamps available in the vicinity of a fire, we often had to cut a landing pad for the loading of the helicopter. I suppose it's a blessing and a curse; northern Manitoba is mostly swamp and forest.