Chopper 9 waits on the flightline with other helicopters at the Kelowna Airport
The call came shortly after 2PM.
“Murman, standby to copy frequency and code information”
The sound of the two-way startled me out of a daydream of happier times. I looked over at Guiv our pilot who suddenly came to life on his easy chair in the Pilots lounge at the Shell hangar.
“This is it, we’re in.” I said as I fumbled for my note pad to copy down the numbers. We had been waiting for a good part of the day waiting to gain access into the restricted airspace to gather tape of the fire areas being attacked from the sky.
Guiv climbs into Chopper 9 as we prepare to fly into the Fire zone.
We soon found ourselves in the air and heading into the fire zone.
There were a number of bucketing helicopters working the fire. We watched from our position above the firefighting helos.
I am working the FLIR camera and attempting to acquire targets to put to tape.
This is what we flew to Kelowna for, access into and around the fires. Up until now we have been relegated to the outer limits. As a guy who loves to get right in there, it was kind of difficult to be waiting for a call while the fire rages just a few miles away. But no matter we are in and now we can do what we came here to do – shoot directly above the fire.
A shot out my window as fly over the Glenrosa fire scene.
Mission accomplished.