Two Quebec planes and their crews helping fight devastating L.A. wildfires
Posted January 8, 2025 12:53 pm.
Last Updated January 9, 2025 9:07 am.
A pair of Quebec water bombers and their crews are in California helping fight the massive wildfires tearing through the Los Angeles area.
A spokesperson for the provincial Transport Department said the two Quebec government planes have been actively involved in fighting the fires since Tuesday.
The two planes are sent to California each fall as part of an annual contract that has existed for more than 30 years.
Stéphane Caron of Quebec’s forest fire protection agency, SOPFEU, said the planes are dispatched with their own pilots, co-pilots and technicians.
Quebec Public Security Minister François Bonnardel posted a message of support on X to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, saying the province is ready to send additional firefighters to the state if they are needed.
“California is currently living through difficult times due to wildfires,” Bonnardel wrote. “The governor … can count on the government of Quebec and on SOPFEU to support him, if necessary, in this fight.”
Thousands of firefighters are battling multiple blazes that had killed at least two people and destroyed more than 1,000 structures across the Los Angeles area as of Wednesday morning, according to Los Angeles County’s fire chief.
Images from the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood showed firefighters battling as large homes were engulfed in flames, while residents escaped through fire, ferocious winds and clouds of smoke. At least 70,000 residents were ordered to evacuate, officials said Wednesday.
The provincial Transport Department’s website says Quebec has been sending two Canadian-made CL-415 firefighting aircraft “as well as pilot and maintenance crews” to Los Angeles each year as part of a deal dating back to 1994.
The website says the contract normally begins in September and lasts for between 90 and 180 days.
The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, which is operated by fire management agencies across Canada, said it has no resources deployed to the California firefighting effort, and there were no “anticipated requests.”
The BC Wildfire Service said its help had not been requested in California, but it “may provide support in the days ahead.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 8, 2025.
— With files from The Associated Press