Pilot gets great pics of huge wildfires

Aerial photos show smoke billowing above mountains

An Alberta pilot who captured in a series of aerial photographs a wall of smoke moving across B.C.’s Interior said he has never seen anything like it.

“I’ve been flying for 20 years and I see smoke every summer, but nothing quite as defined,” said Matt Melnyk, who snapped the pictures Wednesday during an hour-long flight to Vancouver from Calgary.

Melnyk, a Calgary co-pilot with WestJet, said there were no clouds in the sky at 40,000 feet, just east of Kelowna.

“I could see the mountains and that huge line of smoke,” said the former Edmontonian in a Thursday interview. “The specific weather that was occurring at that moment made it so visible, and so alarming and crisp.

“I couldn’t believe it.” Firefighters are battling hundreds of wildfires in high temperatures across British Columbia, many sparked by lightning strikes. The provincial wildfire service has listed the fire danger rating as high to extreme across most of the province. Northwestern B.C. and the southwest coast, including Vancouver Island, are at particular risk for new fires that can spread rapidly, according to the rating.

Environment Canada has issued an air quality statement for the Edmonton area due to wildfire smoke wafting in from B.C. It’s causing poor air quality and reducing visibility, but that can change quickly, said the agency.

WestJet pilot Matt Melnyk was flying from Calgary to Vancouver on Wednesday when he shot this photo of the B.C. wildfires from 40,000 feet up. Melnyk described the image of the billowing smoke as “alarming,” and said he has never seen anything like it in more than 20 years of flying.