A Parksville-area helicopter company is off to fight forest fires at night in Alberta, which will be a Canadian first. The crew from Ascent Helicopters arrived in Alberta on Sunday to do some initial training with personnel there, according to Trent Lemke, owner of Ascent Helicopters. Ascent has experience doing search and rescue and air ambulance operations at night, but this will be the first night-time firefighting contract, he added. “Alberta will be the first province to do so,” Lemke said. “No one has fought fire at night in Canada, in the U.S. they do it quite a bit.” Ascent’s purpose-built tanks on the bottom of their helicopters, combined with night vision use will bolster forest fire fighting efforts by allowing crews to “action” a blaze throughout the night, Lemke said. “If it’s a high-priority fire you can stay with it, where traditionally we’re pulling off just before dark,” he said.