The province cheaped out

Dear Editor: A recent correspondent asked why the Martin Mars Water Bombers were not being used to fight the current crop of wildfires.

This same question was raised several days ago on a CBC radio show. A gentleman phoned in who, whilst not directly involved with the company which owns these aircraft, was close enough to be fully “au fait” with the situation.

According to this gentleman, the B.C. government, in order to save money, decided not to renew the contract for these aircraft to be available on standby this year. As a result the owners decided that, without a contract, they could not afford to maintain their fleet of five or six Mars Bombers in flying condition. They decided to upgrade two of them in the hope of renewing the contract for the 2018 season and mothballed the remaining three or four aircraft.

The two aircraft being upgraded are currently not in flying condition. If a contract were to be signed tomorrow, it would take two to four weeks before they could be put back into service. If the remaining aircraft were to be restored to flying condition, this would be very expensive and a means would have to be negotiated to cover this cost.

In any case, it would take six to 12 months to restore them to flying condition and obtain the necessary safety certificates to allow them to fly.

A clear case of an attempt to save a modest amount of money having devastating impact both on the aircraft owners and the victims of the wildfires. Brian Butler

Penticton