Today is your day Boomer! Right about now I would say a lot of people living in West Kelowna and the Shuswap area of B.C. would be agreeing with me. Agreement on WE NEED MORE WATER BOMBERS! This is a picture of the new De Havilland DHC-515 model that can scoop up about 6,000 litres of water in about 12 seconds! Yup. And the company is building 22 of them close by in Saanich on Vancouver Island. The only problem is all 22 are headed to Europe for fire fighting there. None are under contract for the BC or Canadian governments. However, BC Forestry Minister Bruce Ralston says this: "There is no financial challenge to the province — the money is there. Whatever it takes to protect people and property, the money is there.” To be fair, the province has spent well over a half billion dollars this year on fighting fires....but nothing on new big bombers. The minister says "whatever it takes". Okay, go for it. This was the worst fire season in BC history and it is not over yet. By the way, it also means jobs....125 in Saanich with the potential for 175 more in the next few years. Boomers, let's pressure government to get this done! Cheers!

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