I live on Kokanee Road and on Saturday, I smelled a bit of smoke at around 4:30 p.m. This is not a great thing in our interface area, so I immediately went to high alert.
Within minutes, there was the sound of sirens. It sounded like every person in the Vernon Fire Department responded with alacrity. Minutes afterwards, there was the sound of helicopters. Although I couldn’t see much, I sure heard a lot and it was very comforting indeed. Shortly thereafter, the bird-dog/fire boss appeared in the form of a turbo Aero Commander, and after mere minutes, a Convair 640 arrived, which bombed the fire. After this performance came a rebuilt Lockheed Orion which made several passes over the fire, diminishing the smoke considerably.
You really haven’t lived until you have seen a rebuilt anti-sub aircraft heading toward your house at tree-top level dropping retardant. All the while, you could hear the sounds of men and women working down below. Later, I was treated to an impromptu air show by four skimmers — agricultural aircraft on floats that kept up a four-minute rotation of bombing anything the firefighters had difficulty with.
I have never in more than 50 years in aviation or 33 in air traffic control witnessed such a sight. In my ATC career, I worked as a tower controller on a water bomber base so I have a standard of comparison. Congratulations to chief Green, the men and women of Vernon’s fire rescue service, both volunteers and professional. Also, congratulations to our forestry firefighters. By what I heard, you were incredible. But the skimmers, oh my, what a display of airmanship. You guys were incredible.
Bill Dunsmore
Vernon
