Give us back our water bomber, says Wabush mayor

The mayor of Wabush wants a water bomber to be placed back at the airport in his town, after it was removed during construction in 2015.

Ron Barron says province promised to return plane after airport construction was completed 3 years ago

Geoff Bartlett CBC News Posted: Jun 10, 2018 10:38 AM EDT | Last Updated: June 10, 2018

This water bomber was stationed at Wabush airport for 32 years, that is until 2015, when it was moved to Happy Valley-Goose Bay. (Submitted by Josh Bingle)

The mayor of Wabushwants a water bomber to be placed back at the airport in his town, after it was removed during construction three years ago.

Ron Barron said one of two Labrador water bombers hadbeen stationed at Wabush airportfor 32 years. But when work was being done to the tarmac the plane was moved to the airport in Goose Bay which Barron said the town was promisedwasa temporary move.

"It was said time and time again, that when the work was all said and done that the plane would be back in Wabush. Well guess what?That plane's not here," Barron told CBC Radio'sLabrador Morning Show.

Wabush Mayor Ron Barron is asking residents in the area to write their MHAs and demand a water bomber be returned to the airport in his town. (CBC)

In a statement, the province's transportation department said the plane is still on call 24 hours a day to respond to forest fires in any part of Labrador. The department said it monitors the fire index and can move both water bombersnow stationed in Goose Bay appropriately.

"The water bombers in Happy Valley-Goose Bay are for all of Labrador, and being stationed in a centralized location leads to a faster response time for all regions," the statement read.

The mayor doesn't buy that, saying weather conditions could be too bad for the plane to take off in Goose Bay at the same time a forest fire burns somewhere else like Wabush.

Better protection?

Barron also said having a water bomber stationed in his town means a better chance of noticing a fire that might not have been known about, such as was the case in 2013 when a plane douseda fire that waslocated unexpectedly on its way back to the airport from another call.

"If they didn't do it that day with the prevailing winds we had ...was blowing right into Labrador City ...we would have had another major fire on the go," Barron said.

"But because of the fast actions of the crew that day, they knocked down that fire."

It was said time and time again that when the work was all said and done that the plane would be back inWabush. Well guess what?That plane's not here.- WabushMayor Ron Barron

Barron feelsthe department is basing the decision to keep both water bombers in Goose Bay on data for the last few seasons, which have been unusually wet and not big for fires.

He's asking residents in the Labrador City-Wabush area to call their MHAs and Premier Dwight Ball's office to demand that one of the two planes gets returned to the region.

"That plane can sit on the ground here just as well as it can in Happy Valley-Goose Bay. Let's put one ofthem back, one here where it's been since 1986," he said,

"Ask the residents who lost their cabins back here in 2013 during the forest fires then. It was in the millions of dollars."

A water bomber was at the Wabush airport from 1986 to 2015.

With files from Labrador Morning

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