Dear Editor:
We are finally seeing the redeployment of the Martin Mars water bomber. So much of Canada is in flames that no asset that size should have been parked until the entire firefighting budget was exceeded. It was brought back in desperation because there is nothing but bad news in this drought year.
Much ado was made of the bomber’s age and cost. Sure, it costs three-quarters of a million in standby costs. And it costs around $4,000 an hour to operate. But why is it at a desperation stage (this year more than $60 million) when every province’s firefighting budget has been blown, that it is brought back?
Most of the provinces’ population and their dwellings are situated close to major lakes. We have lots of them.
The Martin Mars is the largest amphibious tanker in the fleet. In a fire in the Okanagan it can cycle several times a day, dropping millions of gallons of water on a forest fire. Nothing else can do that. A C-130 Hercules can carry tons of retardant but needs a large airport to land and refill. Helicopters carry only a small fraction of the Mars load. They still cost $1,000 an hour but it’s only a pea-shooter compared to the Mars. They have their place on smaller fires.
As long as the parts are available, these Mars bombers will be serviceable. They outperform 10 helicopters in a single location and cost considerably less based on “amount of water or retardant dropped in a 10-hour day.”
The decision to take it out of service was political folly. No educated, knowledgeable firefighter would ever take that kind of asset out of service until a satisfactory replacement was secured and in place.
How much of B.C.’s forest could have been saved had the Mars been in service from Day 1?
Leo Vanderbyl
North Vancouver
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