Tod MaffinCanadian Commentator, From Far and Wide · Emotional Support Canadian

The smoke over the northwest territories tonight has names in it

26 Jun 2026 · 3 min

Watch on YouTube

2:46

The video recounts the recent crash of Bird Dog 104, a Turbo Commander aircraft operating as a fire‑suppression “bird‑dog” plane west of Fort Simpson in the Northwest Territories, which killed three crew members while coordinating a 100‑hectare wildfire. The speaker explains the critical role of bird‑dog aircraft in directing larger water‑bombing tankers, distinguishing them from the tanker planes that actually drop water. The narrative then expands to Canada’s pioneering history in aerial firefighting: the 1940s invention of water‑bombing in Northern Ontario, the rise of Conair (founded 1969) into the world’s largest privately owned aerial firefighting fleet, and the ongoing production of next‑generation aircraft by De Havilland in Calgary. International examples illustrate Canada’s contributions, such as providing rapid response to Bolivia’s 2019 rainforest fires and supplying night‑vision and laser‑guided water‑drop technology to Australia. The speaker also notes previous regional fatalities (2023 falling‑tree death, 2024 helicopter crash) to underscore the hazardous nature of the work. The piece ends with a solemn reflection on the relentless smoke over the Northwest Territories and the dedication of crews who operate in remote, dangerous conditions to protect forests and communities.

Chapters

Last night, a small aircraft called Bird Dog 104 went down in the wilderness west of Fort Simpson, uh, in the Northwest Territories. 3 people died. The plane was a Turbo Commander. It's part of a fire suppression team fighting a 100-hectare wildfire that had been burning for 2 days. The plane was operated by a Yellowknife company that has been part of the Northwest Territories' firefighting infrastructure for decades. You know, around the world, Canada is known for helping other countries with their fires. But there's a lot you probably don't know. For one, water bombing was invented in Canada. In the 1940s, pilots in Northern Ontario started experimenting by dropping waxed paper bags of water from aircraft to help ground crews fight fires. Conair, a BC company founded in 1969, became the largest fixed-wing, privately owned aerial firefighting company in the world. Today, more than 50 years later, Conair operates a fleet of more than 80 aircraft run by about 650 people supporting countries like the US and Australia and France and elsewhere. Two water bombing planes in particular have an international reputation, used across Europe and North America for more than 50 years. De Havilland actually is now building the next generation model in Calgary. When Bolivia's rainforest was burning in 2019, their government called on us for an urgent solution. When Australia needed night aerial firefighting innovation, Canada showed up with night vision gear and laser-guided water drop technology. We taught the world how to fight fire from the sky. As for that aircraft that went down this week, a Bird Dog aircraft is not the, um, the tanker that drops the water. It's a small plane, actually. It flies over the fire, reads how it's moving, it decides where the big plane should drop. It manages all the air traffic above a burning wilderness. The bird dog crew are the ones calling the shots in the middle of chaos. They go in first. They stay until the job is done. That's what bird dog 104 was doing over the Martin Hills on Wednesday night. It's not the first time the region's lost crew members. In 2023, a firefighter was killed by a falling tree. In 2024, a pilot was killed when his helicopter crashed near Fort Good Hope. People. Going to places no one else will go to, to protect forests and communities that most Canadians will never visit. That smoke is still rising in the Northwest Territories tonight, and it will keep rising until someone else flies into it. That's the job. That's always been the job.