History (1946) - forest fire protection in Ontario Canada

Thanks to my friends at the B-10 NJ Wildland Fire Page who have a weekly video page. I check out this page most every week and bookmark the videos. It was in going over these bookmarks just now, looking for an interesting video about aerial wildland firefighting that I found the video that I am going to share with you today.

This is a video from 1946, uploaded by Periscope Film, a short film distributed by Warner Brothers Pictures, directed by Van Campen Hellnerand. It was filmed with the cooperation of the Forest Protection Service of the Department of Lands and Forests, Ontario, Canada. For more information about this film you will want to go to the Direct link to Youtube for this video, and click on show more below the three lines introducing the description of this video. It is safe to say that I only know about this video through my friends at the B-10 NJ Wildland Fire Page, I don't think I would have found this video without their help. The folk at B-10 NJ Wildland Fire shared this video on their video of the week page in late November of 2016. Thank-you!!


Direct link to Youtube for this video

Tanker history - Conair DC-6 T-48 circa 1990

In my wonderings on Youtube just now I was reminded of this video. from 1990, of Conair DC-6 T-48 getting a load of retardant and then working a fire the Thunder Fire near La Ronge, Saskatchewan in June 1990. This may be a rerun from about four years ago. I enjoyed seeing this video again, and I hope that you do as well. Enjoy.


Direct link to video on Youtube

British Columbia Forest Service: History of Aviation

As promised, I am following up on the article I posted on June 7, 2013

where I shared a link to a video history of the British Columbia Forest Service (BCFS). Today I will share links to information about the history of aviation in the British Columiba Forest Service.

Over a year ago a friend from British Columbia and retired tanker pilot told me about a three-part history of aviation in the BCFS that is available from the folk at the BC Forest Service Centenary Society. I have read most of this three part history which is chock full of some really great photographs. Here is the three part history (links to pdf files):

• History of Aviation in the BC Forest Service: -- Part 1: Transport, Supply and Reconnaissance
• History of Aviation in the BC Forest Service: -- Part 2: Air Tanker Operations
• History of Aviation in the BC Forest Service: -- Part 3: Helicopters

I share another historical video from BCFS100ca from the mid 1980s on fire management techniques In British Columbia, called On the Fire Line. This is the description from the video's about page:

Date produced: 1986
Description: An historical look at wildfire management techniques and technology at use in the mid 1980s. A perspective following the devastating 1985 fire season.

The video shows all aspects of fighting wildfires in British Columbia in 1985 including but not limited  to how Conair's tankers helped slow the spread of the wildfire in support of the firefighters on the ground. When I say all aspects, I mean just that from deploying ground resources, to behind the scenes fire management, to aerial resources, to how wildfires are fought and contained. to the role of the public, to a discussion of large fires, and more. While historic in nature with some great footage of Conair's airtanker fleet from the mid 1980s (DC-6 and Firecats), the message is timely. The 30 minutes that you will spend watching the video is well worth it. 

History of the British Columbia Forest Service

As some of you know, I have been spending some time learning more about aerial firefighting in Canada. I have always been a bit of a history buff, so I like to spend some time learning more about the history of the provincial forest services in Canada and their history.

I have a couple of friends from British Columbia, so I have naturally been interested in learning more about British Columbia.

One of my friends turned me on to a website celebrating the 100th anniversary of the British Columbia Forest Service, the British Columbia Forest Service's Centenary (BCFS) Website. I have spent some time exploring their site, and could easily spend hours more on this site. One of my friends from western Canada told me that they had some videos, so I went to this page on the BCFS Centenary Website and found a link to a 26 minute video where I learned about the history of the BC Forest Service. Embedding has been disabled by the folk from BCFS Centenary. You can go to youtube and watch this video (1988?) -- A Proud Past: the 75th Anniversary of the BC Forest Service.

On Monday June 9, I'll share some information from the BCFS Centenary Website on the history of aerial firefighting in British Columbia, so stay tuned.

Lethbridge Alberta wildfire of Nov. 27, 2011

Some of you may know that I've been trying to learn a bit more about wildland firefighting in Canada. I've been focusing recently on Alberta. So, I did what I often do and ended up on youtube where I found two videos of what I hope are the same wildfire, a wildfire that burned in Lethbridge, Alberta on Nov. 27, 2011, an extremely windy day with winds blowing up to 120 km/hour (about 75 miles per hour). A brief description of that fire may be found here and an article from The Star. I came up the first video, about 5 minutes of impressive footage. Wanting to learn a little more, I did a quick search on youtube and found the second footage, taken from the air on what I believe was the morning after the fire.


direct link to video


direct link to video

Virginia Hills Fire (Alberta Canada) of 1998

Continuing with what my article on Alberta Canada's forests, (here) I thought that some of you might enjoying watching this fifteen minute video on the Virginia Hills Fire (1998) in Alberta Canada.


direct link to video

History of Alberta's Forests

A couple of days ago I was writing about wildfires in Canada, saying that I was in the process learning more about wildfires in Canada. In my wonderings on the webpage for Alberta's Environment and Sustainable Resource Development, I found the video that I am embedding here (47 minutes) on the history of Alberta's Forests. Wanting to learn more about Alberta I watched the video. I thought that some of you might enjoy watching some or all of the video. The video discusses some history as well as talking about wildland firefighting and the use of airplanes and helicopters to fight fires. Enjoy!

direct link to video