{"id":482808,"date":"2026-02-18T10:34:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T10:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/482808\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T10:34:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T10:34:13","slug":"alberta-spending-400m-on-new-water-bombers-for-aging-firefighting-fleet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/482808\/","title":{"rendered":"Alberta spending $400M on new water bombers for aging firefighting fleet"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/a\/assets\/texttospeech.svg\" alt=\"Text to Speech Icon\" width=\"44\" height=\"44\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Listen to this article<\/p>\n<p>Estimated 2 minutes<\/p>\n<p>The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n<p>Alberta is spending $400 million to add five new water bombers to its aging firefighting fleet over the next several years.<\/p>\n<p>The deal with Calgary-based De Havilland Aircraft is expected to see the first amphibious plane delivered in 2031.<\/p>\n<p>The Canadair DHC-515 plane can skim bodies of water and fill its 6,100-litre tank in about 12 seconds.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This is an opportunity to build up our personal fleet and make sure as those other planes age that we have planes coming online for them,&#8221; said Forestry Minister Todd Loewen.<\/p>\n<p>Premier Danielle Smith said the money is separate from the $160 million the province spends on its wildfire response each year.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Premier Danielle Smith speaks during a news conference about provincial government investment in air tankers as part of its future wildfire response at a De Havilland Canada site in Calgary on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026.\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1771410853_834_default.jpg\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.5652557319223985\" data-cy=\"image-img\"\/>Premier Danielle Smith speaks during a news conference about provincial government investment in air tankers as part of its future wildfire response at a De Havilland Canada site in Calgary on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (Dayne Patterson\/The Canadian Press)<\/p>\n<p>Alberta has had more than 1,000 average annual <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/edmonton\/alta-wildfire-1.7558348\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wildfire starts<\/a> in the past decade \u2014 the second highest in Canada behind British Columbia.<\/p>\n<p>The province says 18 air tankers were available to respond to wildfires last year, four of which were Alberta-owned and -contracted. Those four were built between 1986 and 1988.<\/p>\n<p>Loewen said the aging planes still have life left in them, but that the provincial government doesn&#8217;t want to wait until their retirement to begin bolstering the fleet.<\/p>\n<p>The purchase is expected to create about 1,000 jobs while adding to the current fleet.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a big deal when you get an order this size, but also it says a lot where you set up a large part of your business in a province and that province backs you,&#8221; said Brian Chafe, CEO of De Havilland Canada.<\/p>\n<p>De Havilland announced the launch of the DHC-515 in March 2022, stating then that 22 aircraft had been earmarked for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/science\/canada-aging-water-bomber-fleet-1.6873561\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">European clients<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, Manitoba had signalled its intent to buy a trio of the same aircraft.<\/p>\n<p>In a news release at the time, the company said the DHC-515 is &#8220;specifically designed to meet the operational challenges faced by today&#8217;s aerial firefighters&#8221; with climate change driving longer and more intense wildfire seasons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 2 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":482809,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194293],"tags":[49,2798,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-482808","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-calgary","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-calgary","10":"tag-canada"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/482809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}