BILLINGS— A post from President Donald Trump about grounding all Canadian aircraft is sparking worry about the upcoming wildfire season.
Trump wrote on Truth Social last night that he plans on decertifying all Canadian aircraft until the American Gulfstream aircraft is certified in Canada.
Watch the report:
“If, for any reason, this situation is not immediately corrected, I am going to charge Canada a 50% Tariff on any and all Aircraft sold into the United States of America,” he wrote in the post.
According to independent wildfire expert Al Nash, this could affect wildfire fighting from the air.
“If they were decertified, it would ground them. That would take a significant number of aircraft out of the tanker fleet for the upcoming fire season,” said Nash.
Nash is retired from the Bureau of Land Management, but he travels to wildfires on occasion to help with public-relations efforts. He said Friday morning that decertified Canadian aircraft would be difficult to replace.
“We can't just immediately make a plane an air tanker. It takes a lot of work to take an existing plane and turn it into an air tanker. That's a matter of years, not days,” said Nash.
“If these air tankers were kept out of service this upcoming season, there is no way to replace them,” he added.
Even though it is too soon to tell how intense this year’s wildfire season will be, the Billings National Weather Service office reports this January as the driest since 2006.
