Tens of thousands of people in the Los Angeles area have been forced to flee their homes due to multiple wind-whipped wildfires burning out of control.
Drivers were forced to abandon their cars on the highway in Pacific Palisades, where officials confirmed that structures have been destroyed.
As crews battle flames on the ground, B.C.-based Coulson Group’s pilots and planes are at the centre of the aerial fight.
“On the Palisades fire, we’ve had our Chinook fleet and S-76 working all day,” CEO Wayne Coulson told Global News on Tuesday night.
“We’ve done several hundred drops today on the fire. And … we fly at night as well.”
Coulson said three Chinooks were fighting the fire and one intel helicopter.
He said operations were delayed when the fire first whipped up because the wind gusts made it too dangerous to fly.
“It got a several-hour head start,” Coulson said of the Palisades fire.
“I don’t think we started flying till early after lunch (Tuesday) when the winds subsided that we could actually get to the fire and start and start working it. So it had a head start on us. The winds did pick up again late in the day, but there are 400 weather stations around that fire. So some of the valleys, I guess, have subsided. So we’re able to get in there.”
Coulson said they cannot fly in winds over 50 miles an hour and in some areas winds were recorded at close to 100 miles per hour.
He added that there are some Canadian pilots flying the planes, which are stationed in the L.A. basin 365 days a year, 24 hours a day.
“We’re the first line of defence on every 911 call for a wildfire,” Coulson added.
“In our world, one of the magic of those aircraft is we’ll be on structure protection all night. So because they’re high-volume aircraft at 3,000 gallons a load, it’s like having six fire trucks show up to your house every 10 minutes.”