Jeff Austin is an air attack officer with the BC Wildfire Service and was in the air, coordinating the initial air attack on the River Valley Fire on July 21, 2024.
For 30 years, Jeff Austin has been doing what at first almost appears impossible – folding his 6-3 tall frame into a tiny birddog airplane seat.
The air tankers are “stacked” by altitude, coming to action the fire in turn then moving out of the way for the next aircraft. All of these things also have to be communicated with the pilots of the aircraft coming to work the fire. He knew immediately the fire had a lot of potential and he wanted to throw everything he could at it to hold it at the edge of the river valley. At risk on one hillside was the Tolko log yard and the entire Westridge subdivision, along the top of the other, downtown Williams Lake and Glendale, including homes and businesses.
He made his way up to air attack and said the change in perspective is one of the biggest contrasts in fighting fire from the ground. Darren Wilkinson was the regional wildfire coordination officer at Cariboo Fire Centre on July 21. This meant he was heading up things at the centre as Austin called in with information on the fire. Wilkinson also stressed the fire centre starts planning for possibilities at the beginning of each day, as they look at weather forecasts and predicted fire behaviour.
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