Two more Quebec tanker planes will travel to California next week, while twelve pilots and technicians from the province are already fighting the gigantic fires that have been devouring the Los Angeles region since Wednesday.
Posted at 5:55 p.m.
Two technicians and four pilots will therefore be added to the Quebec CL-415 crew.
Quebec pilots face powerful winds in the skies of Los Angeles, where the smoke generated by the blazes makes visibility difficult, according to Pascal Duclos, chief pilot of the Quebec government air service, at a press conference.
Working in an urban area “complexifies” the task of the Quebec crew, according to the captain. Thursday, a drone flying in the area without authorization crashed into the left wing of one of the two Quebec tanker planes flying over the Palisades fire.
PHOTO DANIEL COLE, REUTERS
Aerial view of the devastation caused by the Palisades fire
-“It could have been fatal on several levels,” said Pascal Duclos. However, the accident caused only “minor” damage to the plane, and the pilot and co-pilot who were on board were not injured.
On Wednesday and Thursday, Quebec pilots worked to control the Palisades fire, which burned no less than 20,000 hectares, according to Cal Fire. On Friday, they tackled the Kenneth fire, which has already ravaged 1,000 hectares in the mountains of west Los Angeles.
“Air traffic is very heavy in the region, because several fires are still breaking out at this time and the fires that are already lit are growing,” added the captain, who has been going to Los Angeles for 14 years in the part of a government contract.
Two Quebec air tankers and their 12 crew members, as well as helicopters provided by a British Columbia company, are already in California.
With The Canadian Press, CNN
