One of the last groups from Conair’s Abbotsford-based fleet departed Sunday, May 29 for Prince George, ready to respond to wildfires in the Cariboo region.
The skimmer Fire Boss team will be situated in Prince George until September and is part of a diverse fleet of aerial firefighting aircraft that have been placed since the end of April at airtanker bases close to where forest fires occur.
Bases with Conair aircraft include Lac La Biche, Slave Lake and Whitecourt in Alberta; Fort St. John, Kamloops, Penticton, and Prince George in British Columbia; Palmer and Fairbanks in Alaska; and Whitehorse in the Yukon.
Conair owns and operates 70 aircraft, including Bird Dog aircraft, amphibious waterbombers and airtankers.
Bird Dog aircraft are the smaller command and control aircraft that fly over fires. They consist of a pilot plus a government agency air attack officer who strategizes and coordinates the aerial response, communicating with fixed-wing and rotary aircraft plus ground crews.
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