In a secluded airfield, roughly 35 minutes from Jasper National Park, a former U.S. military helicopter prepared for takeoff on Tuesday morning to fight a different kind of fight: the park’s raging wildfires.
At the Jasper-Hinton Airport, Airborne Energy Solutions — an aircraft rental service based in Whitecourt — prepared for the second day of firefighting using its Black Hawk helicopter. The hulking chopper, one of a handful in Canada, dropped 5,000-pound buckets holding more than 2,000 litres of water on the flames.
“We’re pulling out of the lakes, beaver dams, rivers — whatever we can find as the closest water source — and trying to slow the fire down,” said Dave Canavan, chief rotary-wing pilot for Airborne Energy Solutions.
On Monday night, residents and visitors of Jasper National Park were given an evacuation order due to wildfires in the region. The Jasper townsite, which the Alberta Emergency Management Agency said was at maximum capacity, started the evacuation around 10 p.m.
It’s estimated that around 25,000 people had to flee the park, according to Parks Canada. Crews have been working around the clock to extinguish the fires, which include a north fire near the Jasper National Park airstrip and a south fire near Highway 93.
What helicopter pilots do
Canavan and fellow pilots Lucas Myers and Cody Walker work in a team of three. The aircraft requires two pilots at one time, and the third rotates in on fuel stops, which happen around every two hours.
It’s a tricky gig for the pilots who are filling a bucket, hovering the aircraft over the ground and flying through smoke as they keep track of other helicopters in the area and the trees below. Sitting in the cockpit, the pilots must lean over in their seats, folding themselves to look out the window and spot the bucket below as it fills.
With the cable and bucket included, the pilots must eye their water fill from 50 metres up — or about half a football field in the sky. From there, the aircraft climbs and travels to the fire to drop the water, which Canavan said had been predominantly on the rear flank of the blaze to reduce the intensity.
Airborne Energy Solutions has what Canavan explained as a “casual hire charter agreement” with the Alberta government — meaning when the government calls, the company can be quickly dispatched to help. Canavan’s team was in High Level for more than two weeks before going to Edson when the need shifted there, and then to Jasper on Monday when the fires in the park ignited.
Military aircraft and water capacity
Canavan explained why the team’s aircraft is so unique.
“There’s only five of them in Canada right now. They’re Black Hawk helicopters, so they’re a military aircraft from the States,” he said.
The Black Hawk helicopter is somewhat of a legend in the rotary-wing aircraft environment. They’re versatile aircraft that have been used for several purposes in a military context — combat assault, aerial fighting and troop transport — but the benefit for Canavan and his team is the massive lift capacity that allows them to move so much water.
Pointing to a neighbouring helicopter on the airstrip, Canavan said it could haul up to 2,000 pounds compared to the Black Hawk’s 5,000- to 6,000-pound carrying capacity.
By Wednesday morning, the Black Hawk had undergone a night of maintenance. Mechanics from the company had to complete a lengthy service on the aircraft, which was due after 120 hours of flight.
With a view from above, Canavan described what they saw as “pretty intense fire behaviour” exacerbated by the wind.
“From the east, they were from the west, they were from the north, so we add that into the mountainous terrains, and the winds were definitely swirling and mixing around on us,” he said.
Although the fire has been burning for a few days, Canavan said there’s still a lot of fuel left that can burn. He said the railroad tracks had fires on both sides but couldn’t say whether infrastructure would be damaged by it. For its part, CN Rail has had its fire train and crew working to calm the blazes near the tracks.
Parks Canada said on its website it is also using heavy equipment and dozers to establish control lines.