Water bomber crew confirmed killed

The pilot and co-pilot of a water bomber that crashed in the B.C. Interior on Saturday are dead, the Abbotsford-based company Conair has confirmed.

Rick Pederson, Conair's senior vice-president, said Sunday that the pilot, 58, was from the Lower Mainland, the co-pilot from Alberta.

"The captain of the aircraft has been with the company for over 26 years — very experienced in this business and very experienced on that aircraft," Pederson said. "The co-pilot, although new to Conair, was a very experienced pilot before he joined the company."

Pederson, whose company hasn't suffered a fatal accident in almost 20 years, said it's too early to tell why the plane crashed.

"We don't have any information in that respect right now," Pedersen said. "The Transportation Safety Board has responsibility for the full investigation."

The water bomber went down just before 9 p.m. local time Saturday, about 15 kilometres south of Lytton, said Capt. Marguerite Dodds-Lepinski, the public affairs officer for the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Victoria.

B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell offered his sympathies to the families of the flight crew.

"On behalf of all British Columbians, I would like to extend our sincere condolences to the families of the victims of this tragic plane crash," Campbell said in a release. "Our hearts and prayers go out to them in this difficult time.

"All the dedicated men and women who work in the Wildfire Management Branch, and those across the ministry supporting our wildfire operations, are deeply impacted by this loss. In recognition, all flags at Ministry of Forests and Range offices will fly at half-mast this week," the premier said.

In another development, 230 experienced firefighters from Ontario and Alberta have joined the 1,000 B.C. firefighters on the front lines across B.C., the provincial Ministry of Forests and Range said Sunday.

The reinforcements include 10 four-person initial attack crews, five 20-person sustained action unit crews, three highly specialized incident command teams, fire behaviour analysts, incident commanders and division supervisors.

They will be assigned mainly to the Cariboo and Kamloops fire centres, but placement will also be determined based on fire activity and anticipated need, a ministry news release said.

Additional crews will be held in reserve to battle fresh fires as well as to ensure all firefighting staff get their required time off in accordance with safe work standards.

British Columbia has also acquired 14 additional aircraft, including air tankers and bird-dog planes, which guide the tankers, from the province's two air tanker suppliers, and from Alberta and the Yukon. The Provincial Air Tanker Centre is establishing a temporary facility at the Quesnel Airport to accommodate the additional aircraft, the ministry said.

The fire danger for most of British Columbia is rated high to extreme, the ministry warned, and weather forecasters expect the hot, dry weather to continue this week in many areas of the province, particularly the southern and central Interior regions.

At present, 353 wildfires are burning in the province, 150 of which started in the last three days. Since April 1, crews around the province have responded to 1,100 wildfires, of which 487 have been human-caused, 580 lightning-caused and 33 are still under investigation. These fires have burned a total of 597 square kilometres.  

One fire forced 30 people from their homes in Cariboo Regional District.

Evacuation orders or alerts have been issued for people living in a number of locations in the Kamloops area and Cariboo region.

However, the Thompson-Nicola Regional District has rescinded the evacuation order issued July 28 for the eastern half of Bonaparte Lake and an area extending from the east end of the lake to the midpoint of the lake, approximately eight kilometres in length. An evacuation alert will remain in effect.

Evacuation orders remain in place for:

• Pelican Lake, 75 kilometres west of Quesnel. For more information contact the Cariboo Regional District at 250-392-4283.
• Dog Creek Indian Reserve No. 2, 40 km south of Williams Lake. Residents can call the Cariboo Regional District at 250-392-4283.
• Riske Creek Military Base, 50 km southeast of Williams Lake. Residents can call the Cariboo Regional District at 250-392-4283.

Evacuation alerts remain in place for:

• Dog Creek Indian Reserve No. 1, 40 km south of Williams Lake.
• Tatuk Lake, 55 km south of Vanderhoof.
• Bayliff Road near Alexis Creek.
• Jade Mine Road, Yalakom Valley, near Lillooet.

A campfire ban extends across about 70 per cent of the province, with violators facing fines from $345 to $1 million and up to three years behind bars.