A Parksville-area helicopter company is off to fight forest fires at night in Alberta.

The crew from Ascent Helicopters arrived in Alberta on Sunday to do some initial training with personnel there, according to Trent Lemke, owner of Ascent Helicopters.

Ascent has experience doing search and rescue and air ambulance operations at night, but this will be their first night-time firefighting contract, he added.

鈥淚n the U.S. they do it quite a bit,鈥� he said.

Ascent鈥檚 purpose-built tanks on the bottom of their helicopters, combined with night vision use will bolster forest fire fighting efforts by allowing crews to 鈥渁ction鈥� a blaze throughout the night, Lemke said.

鈥淚f it鈥檚 a high-priority fire you can stay with it, where traditionally we鈥檙e pulling off just before dark,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f there is [ground] personnel that they鈥檙e going to leave on the fires, normally if they don鈥檛 have aircraft backup they can鈥檛 action the fire. They can only do light duties until there鈥檚 a backup or emergency back in plan to get them out of there.鈥�

Ascent鈥檚 contract with the Alberta government is for the next five summers. Its chopper will be one of three working as part of Alberta鈥檚 new developmental program. The Ascent helicopter will have a crew of six rotating in and out of Alberta over the summer.

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The water tanks were developed approximately 20 years ago for the province of B.C., Lemke said, specially built for firefighting operations.

鈥淎lberta is quite anxious to try one out and see how it works with this program,鈥� he added.

Lemke is hopeful that some day night-time operations can be used in B.C.

鈥淭o me it only makes sense, but there鈥檚 lots of factors involved in it for sure.鈥�

Ascent Helicopters has been active for close to 20 years, carrying out specialized flight services to a variety of government and industry clients including BC Hydro, MOFLNR Rapattack Program, Crescent Spur Heli Skiing, BC Air Ambulance, film and mining and resource exploration.

In 2023, it was awarded a $554.4-million contract to supply new aircraft to BC Emergency Health Services (BCEHS) to deliver helicopter emergency medical services.

The company has bases in Parksville and Fernie.