Pilots killed in B.C. air tanker crash named

The two air tanker pilots who were killed when their plane crashed over the weekend fighting a forest fire in the B.C. Interior have been identified as Tim Whiting and Brian Tilley.

Whiting, 58, of Langley, and Tilley, 36, who was from Edmonton, were killed when their plane, which was operated by Abbotsford-based company Conair, went down just before 9 p.m. local time Saturday, about 15 kilometres south of Lytton.

Just days before the crash that took his life, Whiting, who had spent almost 30 years flying with Conair, described his airplane to a CBC News crew in Kamloops.

"It's a wonderful aircraft," said Whiting.

Asked about his biggest concern fighting wildfires in B.C., Whiting said it was that he might not be able to get a fire under control.

"Hopefully, we can contain it and do some good, and stop it from increasing in size beyond resources," the pilot said.

The crash of the aircraft set off a wildfire, and emergency crews were not initially able to get closer than 350 metres to the crash site on Saturday. Crews were able to get to the site on Sunday.

Rick Pederson, the senior vice-president of Conair, said the company had not had a fatal crash in almost 20 years.

"We don't consider it a dangerous business," he said. "We consider it a business that has risks, and the key to that and the safety program is managing those risks, making sure that crews are well-equipped and aircraft are well-equipped to work in the environment that we do."

The cause of this crash is now the subject of a Transportation Safety Board investigation.

More fires

B.C. fire information officer Kim Steinbart said another 60 fires were reported on Sunday, bringing the number of blazes burning across the province to more than 360.

"We've been able to get some containment [of some fires], and some people have been able to get back to their homes or come off of evacuation alert. But in other cases, we've had some new evacuation alerts and orders put in place and fires are growing. So it's still a battle in B.C.," she said.

On Sunday, 230 experienced firefighters from Ontario and Alberta joined 1,000 B.C. firefighters on the front lines across the province.

Steinbart said those out-of-province crews have been deployed at the Cariboo and Kamloops fire centres. From there, they will be sent where extra firefighters are needed or where crews need a relief break.