Winnipeg’s police chopper credited for helping in city’s fire fights

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This article was published 09/05/2018 (2435 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Police Service’s Air-1 helicopter unit has been racking up the assists in May, kicking in help on at least nine of the blazes the city’s fire department has battled so far this month.

Ihor Holowczynsky, the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service’s assistant chief of fire rescue operations, said the support from Air-1 has been invaluable as the department battles the uptick in fires that have been sparked in May, thanks to the tinder-like conditions blanketing much of Manitoba.

“We’ve recently had hot, dry, windy conditions. That is the ideal recipe for grass and brush fires to occur. It doesn’t take much to get it started and to propagate across larger areas. (The fires) often cover large areas. Even in the day time it can be difficult to see where it’s coming from. We often don’t have a lot of vantage points,” Holowczynsky said.

On Thursday, the WPS released a video taken from the Air-1 unit that shows the assistance it provided at a previous fire in the Transcona Bioreserve, where it helped guide firefighters on the ground to a brush blaze. Since Friday, there have been at least 14 brush fires in the city, although Air-1’s support hasn’t been limited to helping out on wildfires.

Holowczynsky said the services Air-1 provides, including thermal sensor imaging, is a game changer for firefighters on the ground, who often can’t see brush fires with the human eye, or sometimes have to battle them in the dark.

“This video is great. It gives you a really good view of how valuable it is,” he said.

At times the request for Air-1 support would flow from the WFPS incident commander to their radio dispatcher, who would then reach out to the WPS to see if the helicopter unit is available.

However, WPS Const. Jay Murray said at times the process can be streamlined thanks to cooperation from street cops and firefighters on the scene.

“I think a more common example of what you might see happen – and I’ve personally done it myself – is when we’re on the ground at the fire we’re often communicating with firefighters. So a firefighter might say, ‘Hey, is Air-1 available?’ And we’ll just get on our radio, and radio Air-1, and they’ll fly over. It’s as simple as that,” Murray said.

An open-air fire ban remains in effect in Winnipeg due to the hot, dry conditions that have led to an uptick in grass and bush fires in the city. So far in 2018, the WFPS has responded to 55 brush fires, while they only saw action on 85 during the entirety of 2017.

ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca

@rk_thorpe