Martin Mars water bombers helping BC fires Special

British Columbia, the '"Best Place on Earth", is using Martin Mars water bombers in an effort to battle over 269 raging forest fires.

Over the next few days, firefighters from across the country are arriving to help the dire situation in BC, working mainly in the Cariboo and Northwest Fire Centres. In most of BC, the fire danger rating is high to extreme. According to gov.bc.com no significant rain is expected in the coming days. Cooler conditions and scattered showers over the weekend may provide relief. Ontario, not reporting any new fires recently, has sent personnel to help.

As of 1200 hours this date (Aug 20), 334 Ontario personnel were in BC.

Larissa Cormier

Aug 2010, Fraser Lake, BC

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Larissa Cormier, of Fort Fraser, is one of those on evacuation alert. Her husband Dan is away working at camp, so she packed all important items on her own, which she admits "truthfully there wasn't a lot", when it really came down to it . She is staying home, waiting to hear further news. Cormier, grateful that she is still connected to the outside world via the internet, updated her family today:

“I'm still at home ... we're still on Evacuation Alert. It's cold, very smokey, no wind, and spooky quiet. I have a cough, my eyes are swollen & sore a little, not going outside much (but the smoke is getting inside).”

CBC reports that after years of being contracted to working outside the province, the Martin Mars water bomber is back in BC.

"We've been away for three years, working with folks in southern California and we've made significant changes to the aircraft," said Wayne Coulson of Coulson Flying Tankers, the Martin Mars' owner.

Fire officials are using the 60-metre wingspan bomber for their attack on some of the province's biggest fires, such as the huge blaze at Binta Lake, about 500 kilometres north of Vancouver.

The fire is estimated to be at least 380 square kilometres in size and was only 10 per cent contained Friday morning.

Updates on the fire evacuation can be found at BC Forest Fire Info. Could the Mountain Pine Beetle be playing a major role in this? For decades it has been devastating the forests of BC. One tiny insect can suck the life out of a tree in two weeks. Hal Licino suggests that the beetle just might be more of a threat than a nuclear bomb and their damage can lead to 100 million deaths in North America by fire and smoke. There was a time when the beetle population was under control. That was back in the days before global warming. Nothing effective can kill the pine beetle except for cold winters (below 40 degrees) and fire. They kill the pine tree, and a dead tree is a dry tree that burns fast in the hot weather, says Licino. Next summer is forecasted to be even hotter.