The 2021 North American wildfire season started with a bang and hasn’t let up since. It’s all hands on deck as helicopter operators scramble to respond.

In mid-July, Mark Wiskemann saw something he’s never encountered in his 20,000 hours of flying. He was piloting one of six firefighting helicopters operating from a remote forward attack base in northwestern Ontario when day turned to night.

“We experienced daytime darkness,” recalled Wiskemann, the president of Thunder Bay, Ontario-based Wisk Air Helicopters. “There were two nearby fires that joined, so those fires grew together during the day, and then there was a significant storm created by a cold front that initiated 35,000-foot [10,700-meter] clouds. That storm, along with the smoke and particulate from wildfires burning in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and northwestern Ontario, created a total darkness.”

By 2:30 p.m., it was completely black at the Bak Lake base. Six helicopters and their crew huddled on the ground, all of them seasoned firefighting pilots who could only stare in wonder at the strange phenomenon. 

“I’ve been doing this for 40 years and never seen such a thing,” said Wiskemann. “It was very eerie. There was no opportunity to leave if it got worse.”

Luckily, daylight returned in about an hour. 

The unusual happening is just another example of why many are calling this an exceptional wildfire season.

“The last year I saw this fire hazard level was 2006, and the previous year before that was 1996,” said Wiskemann. “We are seeing fires that have grown overnight; we’ve seen into-wind growth of a kilometre overnight when the fire is supposed to be sleeping. That’s not normal.”

While it’s hard to predict how the remainder of the North American wildfire season will play out, there has already been significant destruction and loss of life and property. On June 30, the town of Lytton, British Columbia, northeast of Vancouver, was completely destroyed by a fast-moving wildfire.

According to the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry website, the province had seen a total of 841 fires by July 22 — almost double the 422 fires recorded in all of 2020. Ontario’s 10-year average is 482 fires per year.   

“Northwestern Ontario is surrounded by the Boreal forest,” said Wiskemann. “Everywhere you go, there are two types of trees, mostly pine and spruce, with some deciduous, such as aspen.”

Wisk Air has fielded six helicopters for fire duty this year – two Bell 407s, three Bell 412s and one Bell 214B. They have each averaged about six to seven hours of flight time per day so far this season. The helicopters deliver materials, firefighting and suppression gear, and firefighters themselves to remote areas for initial and sustained fire attack. Some aircraft are equipped with buckets while others have belly tanks.

Wiskemann said Wisk Air has both short- and long-term contracts with the Ontario government. About 12 pilots are on fire duty. 

“The record-breaking heat is a serious challenge to people and equipment this year, with aircraft forced to lessen bucket and passenger loads in hot conditions.” 

“We have a heavy helicopter, the Bell 214, and the Ontario government has recognized the benefits of significant water delivery, so we have a Bambi Max we use. It delivers 780 US gallons [2,950 liters] — or nearly 6,500 pounds [2,950 kilograms] of water — at one time. They do that once every four to five minutes, up to 15 to 20 times per hour,” he continued. “The government recognizes the advantage of helicopter quick turns as opposed to waterbombers, which take much longer. So, that’s a huge advantage the Ministry has utilized this season.”

Wiskemann said Wisk Air has implemented a double shift on the 214, in response to a request from the provincial government.  

“One pilot starts at 5:30 a.m. and flies six to seven hours. Around 1 p.m. in the afternoon, he stands down, and another pilot will utilize the aircraft for the remainder of the day. The government has requested that of Wisk Air and we have obliged.”

Operational conditions continue to be a challenge, with dense smoke threatening to obscure vision.  

“Our helicopters, along with most other Canadian operators, are day VFR [visual flight rules] only,” he said. “We need to navigate, be safe, support the folks on the ground and do it in difficult flying conditions that include high winds and dense smoke. You have other suppliers up there, maybe 10 to 15 aircraft within radio range, moving through the smoke. You have to do it safely and repetitively.” 

Hot and dry conditions fuel a busy season

The Northwest Interagency Coordination Center (NWCC), the agency which provides support and intelligence relative to wildfire activity in the northwestern U.S., has warned of “the potential for extreme fire behavior” due to drought conditions in south central and central Oregon. 

That’s no surprise to Oregon-based Columbia Helicopters, which has currently fielded seven heavy-lift helicopters to fight fires in and around the region. These include three Columbia Model 107-II Vertol bucketed helicopters, three Boeing CH-47D Chinooks (two tanked and one bucketed) and one Model 234 multi-mission Chinook. In addition, Columbia has two helicopters on fire duty in Turkey and two more, one in Australia and one in Chile, for fire season start-up. 

“Columbia operates in the northwest all the way south to Region 3, Arizona, and everywhere in between,” said Keith Saylor, the company’s director of commercial operations. “The North American fire season has started quickly this year, concentrated in the Rockies and the Southwest. It’s moved from the Rockies to the west and the Pacific Northwest — there is currently a high fire danger. We have everything out there working.”

Saylor said the wildfire season started earlier this year compared to 2020, but the various contracting agencies have engaged quite a few heavy helicopters, so Columbia’s flight hours are fairly average so far. 

He explained there are two types of aviation firefighting contracts: a mandatory availability period (MAP) contract that provides for exclusive use during a specified period, and a call when needed (CWN) contract, which is activated on an ad hoc basis.

“We were used to a slow start in some areas. Now, this is kind of like the new trend: When fire seasons starts, it’s hot and heavy. It’s all starting at once.”

“The U.S. Forest Service has engaged 48 individual aircraft under a MAP, when normally they have 28 to 34,” he explained. “They’ve created a bit of a shortage for the individual states, so they have snapped up the aviation assets they can find. For example, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection [Cal Fire] has offered up to six MAP-period type contracts to make sure they have the bigger aircraft as the season goes on.”

Saylor explained the significance of one of those contracts: “We’re the only operator that operates in the standard category/transport category 234 class helicopter for passenger transport. This particular contract with Cal Fire is for a 234LR with passenger transport capabilities. The agency realizes the value of a true multi-mission, super heavy, standard category helicopter with Cat. A performance for added safety. The LR has 4.5 hours of range and can reach any border within the state of California.” 

This year has presented some unique challenges, as operators grapple with the ripple effects of Covid-19. Health and safety precautions are still required during firefighting operations, despite increased vaccinations. In addition, there has been a shortage of jet fuel as industry works to return to pre-pandemic production. 

“We are working with Washington and local states to ensure we are a priority when it comes to putting jet fuel in aircraft,” said Saylor. “Industry is ramping up again, but there is a lag time.”

In terms of opportunities, he said Columbia has maintained its workforce through the pandemic and is positioned to respond quickly to state and federal needs. The company was the first to introduce the tanked CH-47D Chinook to the firefighting community and continues to improve that offering. For the last year, Columbia has been developing a program for night aerial firefighting, and Saylor reported that aircraft will soon have the capability to support night vision equipment. 

“It will be ready for this fire season, although night firefighting is something that still remains to be embraced through the agency community,” he said. “There is a very small acceptance right now. Years down the road, it will be commonplace.”

Columbia is also working with Boeing’s Aurora Flight Sciences to develop an enhanced pilot situational awareness (EPSA) technology that will allow daytime aerial firefighting to continue even when VFR conditions are not met. 

An accelerated start

Columbia’s fellow Oregon operator, Hillsboro Aviation, has deployed seven helicopters to fight fires this year: four Bell 205 A1++ aircraft, one Airbus H125 and two Bell 407s, one standard and one HP model. The company is currently operating in Montana, Washington state, Oregon and California.

“We have flown more hours, year-to-date, than we did in 2018, 2019 and 2020,” reported Ryan McCartney, vice president and chief operating officer at Hillsboro Aviation. “The highest year to date is 2021, and that is firefighting-specific hours. It is substantially more this year. Right now, the year-to-date number is approaching double the number of hours of 2019 or 2020.”

McCartney said the hot and extremely dry conditions have accelerated the fire season, with July looking more like a typical August. 

“According to the data available at the U.S. Drought Monitor, current conditions are roughly four weeks ahead of a typical busy fire season,” he told Vertical. “This year, the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) went to Preparedness Level 5 [the most extreme level of fire danger] earlier than we’ve seen it since 2008. In the past 10 years, only half of those years made Level 5.”

Five of Hillsboro’s firefighting helicopters are on MAP contracts, with two deployed on a CWN basis. The latter have been out earlier than normal.

The record-breaking heat is a serious challenge to people and equipment this year, with aircraft forced to lessen bucket and passenger loads in hot conditions. And, like Columbia, Hillsboro Aviation has also been affected by this year’s shortage of jet fuel.

Over at Portland, Oregon-based Erickson Inc., the busy fire season is keeping seven helicopters busy in North America, including one Air Crane in Canada and five more in the U.S., plus a Bell 214ST.

“We are on contract earlier and flying heavy hours earlier in the season,” reported Brittany Black, senior vice president of sales, business development and marketing. “We were used to a slow start in some areas. Now, this is kind of like the new trend: When fire seasons starts, it’s hot and heavy. It’s all starting at once.”

She said this trend has been evident for about the past three years as weather patterns have become more extreme, creating prime wildfire conditions.

“We’ve known this was coming, but I think this year we’ve realized this is the new normal.”

So far this year, Erickson’s firefighting hours have eclipsed last year’s total flight hours by more than 20 percent. 

Like other operators, Black said Erickson is still navigating pandemic-related challenges. With more than 15 aircraft operating around the world, delays can occur with supply chain, logistics or travel arrangements. 

“I would say we’ve been fortunate in that we saw certain post-Covid challenges coming and we made sure we could rely on our own inventory,” she commented. “They have pre-positioned inventory, but we want to prepare for this in the future. Right now, there’s been no effect on operations. But we do need to continue to prepare for future challenges.” 

With the number of wildfires on the rise, Erickson is looking for ways to increase efficiency, better utilizing its assets to support customers. 

“There is a huge demand for heavy helicopters, so we’ve been working on improvements to the platform,” said Black. “Our engineering team has completed composite main rotor blades certification — this is the first year we’ve really deployed the blades, and we’ve already noticed better performance and ease of maintenance. We continue to upgrade our snorkels and fire tank systems. We’re always looking for improvements that help us mobilize quickly and support effectively. We’ve made significant progress upgrading the platform with glass cockpits and technological innovations that add safety or operational mission elements, to improve the safety of pilots and the mission.”

At the end of the day, helicopter firefighting operations are staffed by seasoned veterans who know what they need to do and how to get the job done, even in the face of an increasingly demanding wildfire environment.

We’ve been doing the same thing for a long time,” concluded Erickson’s Black. “Our crews are good at it. We keep innovating and work to do things better so we can stay one step ahead.”