Martin Mars Water Bomber Tribute

[fixou812]

And the Captain

We all make logistics errors

 

[camptramp]

Bruce W. A Fire on a hill side over looking the Village of Lake Cowichan B.C. April 2004 .

 

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Bruce W. fire 2004

 

[camptramp]

Bruce W . Fire 2004 .

 

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Bruce W . fire 2004 .

 

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Bruce W . fire 2004 . Martin Mars fly's off into the sunset .

 

[Murk100]

Sproat Lake 2015..this fire is text book Martin Mars from the start to late now, had the Mars been sitting on stand bye the fire would be out in my opinion...

 

[Murk100]

Few more

 

[Murk100]

I happened to be camping on Sproat and witnessed the fiasco from the start.. I guess the good news is the Mars is ready to go. Hawaii hopefully will get in the air today for flight training to Smokey yesterday. I'm still here Blk Prince

 

[Murk100]

 

[Blk prince]

Murk,I am looking this over saying that is not the view from the seat of a non air condition cab. Then I see your greeting.you are doing way better than I. Daughter and her young family headed back to Prince George this morning,wife went back to work and I am so lucky. Stuck here putting all the furniture back in proper place. Even part time work would be better than this. Nice to hear from you.

 

[Murk100]

LOL.. Had a great 10 days at Sproat until the smoke showed up had to use the GPS on the lake, now I'm sitting here at home looking at my PU and boat full of crap. Camping is over rated even though we rented a 3800 sq ft house with all the bells and whistles.lol
Lucky we're not fighting fire out Beaver Creek, June 15th I was pulling a turn in and started a fire luckily the boys were on the ball got it out with 3 **** cans.. yikes.. been home ever since.

Murk,I am looking this over saying that is not the view from the seat of a non air condition cab. Then I see your greeting.you are doing way better than I. Daughter and her young family headed back to Prince George this morning,wife went back to work and I am so lucky. Stuck here putting all the furniture back in proper place. Even part time work would be better than this. Nice to hear from you.

 

[Taylor57]

My photo of the Martin Mars (I believe it's the Hawaii) taken at Caycuse on Lake Cowichan circa 1964.

 

[dunwurken]

I continue to be astounded by the ignorance of our government. Specifically the Minister of Forest and their Kamloops fire center spokesperson. The MoForests said that they could hire four Fire Boss Air Tractors for the same cost of hiring the Martin Mars. The Air Tractor packs 800 US gallons of water. It would take nine of them to equal the one drop capacity of the Martin Mars. 800 gals dropped from an Air Tractor would have nowhere near the penetration power of a Martin Mars drop. Most would probably evaporate. He also said the Martin Mars cannot drop retardant. That is simply not true. It can add as much or how little to each pickup that suits the fire behaviour. Meanwhile the Fire center spokesperson said on CBC that aircraft whether they be planes or helicopters do not put the fire out. It's the crews on the ground that put the fire out. I am here to tell you it is the aircraft that either stops or delays the spread of the fire and gives the people on the ground a chance to get control of it and then then put it out. I can clearly see why we are in so much trouble in this province when this is the logic they use. FYI I do speak from experience dealing with forest fires as an industry fire boss. I have used the Martin Mars and various sizes of helicopters. I would not consider wasting my time with a Air Tractor. Someone has sold them a bill of goods on that one.

 

[dirty4fun]

It is to bad that the people who control things have never had to work doing what they are in charge of. It is impossible to beat someone that is knowledgeable due to having worked doing the job. Sorry to hear that a dang pencil pusher is in control of the forestry dept. They can cause more damage than a fire, yes you can get four planes cheaper, but they take three times longer to do the job. Hope those in charge push back, and get their heads out of their back sides soon!

 

[clintm]

the scary thing is it's all of the world that thinks like that. it's all about the money that goes in their own pocket or brother inlaws . not for the good of their neighbor or man kind and I can't see how it will change any time soon

 

[VIPMedia]

Martin Mars July 8 2015 Sproat Lake
[video=youtube;RL_zFtBBDTc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RL_zFtBBDTc[/video]

 

[camptramp]

Murk 100's pictures tell it all , the Martin Mars is most effective when a fire is small , make a drop and put a crew in the site to mope it up . Quite often the powers that be get away with taking a gamble . Their gambling style of fighting forest fires , isn't working this year ! We all know we haven't had our average rain fall this pasted Winter , we knew there isn't any Snow Pack in the Coast Mountain's or any Mountain in B.C. . I have to question why every piece of Fire Fighting Equipment was not ready and able to go to work when needed ! The Forest Companies of the 1950's and 1960's were brilliant in their strategy to convert tankers off Rail Car's into water tank's and water trailer's for logging trucks , a good stock of fire pumps and fire hose on hand and creating the Martin Mars Water Bombers . It was with sadness as I watched the tankers hauled off for scrap and the fire pumps and equipment allowed to deteriorate to junk and the Martin Mars moth balled in the 2000's . Its only July , we have a long summer ahead of us , if the powers in the heavens don't send us some rain clouds soon , there's going to be an awful lot of scorched scenery in "Beautiful B.C." .

 

[Murk100]

Well put guys.. this is an interesting read.http://www.alberniweather.ca/fire/MarsRebuttal.pdf This to me is the ultimate aerial tool box.

 

[camptramp]

Somebody in the "Heavens Above" must be watching over us , our weather prediction of 30%-40% chance of rain fall has turned out to be about a 95% chance of rain fall . Hope it is hitting the Interior and South of the Border , it might give the Guy's on the fire line a chance to get caught up on their battle against the Wild Fires . To bad we can't get some "Back Benchers " out of their office's on to the Fire Line maning the Madicks, Shovels and P---cans , for some hands on experience .