Preparations for the upcoming fire season continue for Saskatchewan Environment Air Operations personnel.
Ground school for pilots began on April 1 in Prince Albert and flight training will commence once the weather warms up.
Denis Renaud, the director of aviation operations in La Ronge, says a total of 34 pilots and one head pilot will be using two types of air tankers owned by the province and they operate out of several bases.
“We are going in with 17 aircraft, five of those are Convair 580 land-based tankers, four Turbo Commanders, which are the bird dogs, which work with the 580 aircraft, and we have six CL-215 aircraft and three Barons,” he said.
Renaud says it takes about a month to get all of the aircraft and crews prepared for the upcoming fire season.
Over the winter, there were some upgrades to things like GPS systems, as well as some regular aircraft maintenance.
Renaud adds, it is always difficult to predict how busy fire crews will be during the summer.
“Last year, we started off very slow until June, and then we started to do lots of work in B.C. and the United States, and then the Pelican Narrows area got us working late into the fall,” he said
With the cold weather and late spring snow, this year’s fire season is expected to begin later than usual.
(PHOTO: A CL-215. Photo courtesy of Saskatchewan Aviation Operations.)