NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
The territorial government is looking to spend $27 million to replace its aging water bomber fleet in the wake of the worst forest fire season in the territory's recorded history.

The GNWT is looking to purchase eight Air Tractor Fire Boss AT-802 water tankers. If approved in the budget, the planes would replace the GNWT's four twin engine CL-215s, which have been in operation for nearly 60 years. - photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

The GNWT is scheduled to purchase eight Air Tractor Fire Boss AT-802 air tankers as part of its 2015-16 budget. If approved, the planes would replace the territory's 60-year-old CL-215 tankers, which according to Finance Minister Michael Miltenberger, are in dire need of being retired.

"Being over 60, I can tell you, keeping up with the guys in their 20s is very, very tough, if not downright impossible," said Miltenberger during a committee meeting at the legislative assembly on Oct. 27.

AT-802s from other jurisdictions have been helping fight forest fires in the NWT for the past three summers. Although the "battle-tested" planes can only carry half the amount of water or fire retardant as the 215s, the fact that the government is looking to double the size of its fleet means that it will not lose any of its capacity to fight forest fires, he said.

Meanwhile, the single-prop 802s burn around 300 litres of gas an hour compared to 900 litres an hour required by the 215s.

"So we know that we'll be able to keep the fleet of 802s in the air for less than what we're currently paying to keep the 215s in the air," he said.

Another benefit of the Fire Bosses is they require shorter runways and can scoop up water from shallower bodies of water. Miltenberger added that the CL-215s are so old that the type of aviation gas they require is becoming obsolete, whereas the jet fuel used by the 802s is the same as commercial jets and is therefore more readily available.

"We have at least two instances and one near incidence where we actually ran out of (aviation) gas in communities," said Miltenberger. "The 215s were stranded on the runway and we had to work to find other aircraft to come in and assist."

During the committee meeting, several MLAs inquired about the possibility of purchasing Bombardier's 415 Superscoopers, which are the modern incarnation of the CL-215s.

However, Bill Mawdsley, director of forest management for the GNWT, told News/North that planes' $40 million price tag each put them out of the government's price range. Mawdsley said the GNWT organized a test program for the 802s in Hay River in 2011 and that the new planes will meet the territory's fire fighting needs at a fraction of the cost.

"Based on all the information we have and the work that was done under the aviation fleet review we believe that two groups of four (802s) will provide comparable service to the CL-215s," he said.

This summer, the GNWT spent an estimated $60 million on fighting 385 wildfires covering a total of 34,000 square kilometres of forested land.

If approved in this year's budget, the 802s could be in the air as early 2017.

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.