©CoulsonAviation

…When it came to fighting two of the worst fires in Vancouver Island’s history, BC Wildfire Service took advantage of Coulson Aviation’s successful night vision aerial firefighting program. Almost 15 years to the day after testing how effective a helicopter could be dropping water on hot spots at night, the Wesley Ridge fire broke out between Port Alberni and Qualicum Beach. “The first trial was 22 targets and with 22 loads, we were able to extinguish it and put water in all 22 (targets) and that’s when we knew we had something,” said Wayne Coulson, CEO of the Alberni-based Coulson Aviation. …One of the other challenges for aerial night firefighting was filling the helicopters with water. …Coulson said government officials didn’t believe it was safe to hover fill at night so on a November night in 2017 a company aircrew spent three hours at the Alberni Valley’s Sproat Lake testing the process.