GENERAL - contM. 



north it came closer and closer to the great fire area and finally, for about 

 the last six weeks of the season, it was taken off photography completely 

 and assigned to fire protection. 



During the summer of 1955, the union employees of the De Havilland 

 Company of Canada struck and the plant was closed down. This put a 

 premium on Beaver and Otter parts but fortunately we had laid in 

 sufficient to carry us through and our Service did not suffer. While the 

 strike did not do the De Havilland Company much good it is said that it is 

 an ill wind that does not blow some one some good. In this case De 

 Havilland had three pilots on their year-round staff whose services they 

 were not able to use and they were kind enough to loan them to us during 

 the period that our fires were at their peak. All three performed 

 excellent service and I believe we are indebted to and must thank the 

 De Havilland Company for this valuable contribution. 



I think I should also mention the advantages of our present type of 

 field organization. The Regional system, sub-divided into Districts, 

 provides a sufficient measure of over-all control to allow and expedite 

 the transfer of equipment from one Region or District to another. When 

 the fires became so bad in the eastern part of the Province, only a 

 skeleton force of aircraft was left in the west and the balance transferred 

 to the east to work on them. I do not think the advantages of this system 

 can be over-rated. 



This report would scarcely be complete without making mention and 

 giving due credit to those responsible for the production and maintenance 

 of the Department's Radio Communications System and in this I refer 

 particularly to aircraft radio. It is almost incredible that such a huge 

 system could function so effectively with so little maintenance and I can 

 only view it as a tribute to the knowledge, skill, resourcefulness and 

 ingenuity of this Department's radio section. 



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