Fires near Los Angeles | Two Quebec planes go into combat in California

Six Quebecers left Wednesday in two government tanker planes to fight the fires ravaging California. A way to help the American neighbor, who did not hesitate to send reinforcements to Quebec during the fires of 2023.

“We are all proud to be of service”

Their names are Éric Pelletier, Carl Villeneuve, Julien Flouquet, Pierre Boulanger, Karol Bouchard and François Lapierre. On Wednesday, in the gray skies of Quebec, these pilots, co-pilots and technicians took off aboard two Canadair CL-415 planes towards California.

“It’s certain that that’s why I’m here, in the air service: to do missions like that, to help communities,” said François Lapierre, aircraft maintenance technician for the Service. government air service (SAG) for 14 years. “We are all proud to be of service. »

After a night in St. Louis, Missouri, on Wednesday, they will head to Boise, Idaho. It is in this city that the US Forest Service will carry out the mechanical inspection of the devices. Then on Saturday, if all goes well, they will arrive in Los Angeles, where fires have devastated entire neighborhoods.

Planes prepared urgently

The Quebec government agreed, on January 10, to send these two air tankers to California. The request for help came from the American government.

SAG technicians worked hard, starting last weekend, to prepare the two Canadairs.

“We did the assessment and decided that we were capable of helping California without harming our primary mission, which is to fight forest fires in Quebec,” indicates Luc Dugas, senior director of strategic operations. and aerial to the Society for the Protection of Forests against Fire (SOPFEU).

It may seem simple to send Quebec planes in winter, months before the fire season. But the cold season is used to maintain and inspect aircraft.

“In 2023, Quebec needed the United States, the United States came to help us,” recalls Luc Dugas. More than 600 American firefighters then came to Quebec. They made a difference. We hope to do one in California. »

“Fatigue is making itself felt”

The two Quebec crews will join the two others already on site in California, bringing the total to four tanker planes from Quebec.

“The fatigue is making itself felt a little bit, especially mentally, for my part,” admits Pascal Duclos, chief pilot of the Government Air Service of Quebec, who has been fighting fires for days in California for days.

The two Quebec crews already on site were there under an agreement with Los Angeles County, in force for years. The two crews that left Quebec on Wednesday are leaving due to an emergency request from the American federal government.

“It’s really a tragedy what happened,” observes Pascal Duclos. On my first day, we saw a few houses on fire. The second day, an entire neighborhood was devastated, in ashes. I had never seen anything like this before. Infrastructure, schools burned… It’s quite incredible. »

SOPFEU negotiates with other States

According to Luc Dugas, from SOPFEU, “the fight against forest fires is based on mutual aid”. States cannot have the manpower and resources necessary at all times to fight extraordinary fires.

“We have an organization to protect against fires based on an average workload,” he says. With climate change, the workload increases. And also the peaks that we knew in the past are getting bigger and bigger. »

Quebec and the United States have such agreements, which make deployments faster and easier. This is not the case with France, Portugal or even Spain, countries which have all sent firefighters to Quebec in 2023. On Wednesday, Luc Dugas stressed that he was in discussions with these European states to create these agreements.

“SOPFEU is in contact to obtain other mutual aid from other countries,” he said. We have no choice but to find other ways to help ourselves. »