As firefighters struggle to contain some of the worst European wildfires in living memory with reduced numbers of aerial water bombers, production of the iconic aircraft creaks along half a world away in a Canadian factory.
Canadairs are a prime weapon in fighting blazes in rugged, often remote landscapes. But building the specialised aircraft is a time-consuming process, made harder by a nine-year production gap that left the complex supply chain in tatters.
Although manufacturer De Havilland restarted production in 2024, the first delivery -- of just two aircraft -- to France, one of the countries hardest hit by wildfires in Europe so far this summer, won't happen until at least 2028.
France is experiencing its worst wildfire season on record, with 92,000 hectares already burned, an area nine times the size of Paris. Some 200,000 were evacuated in the southwest recently as a massive blaze approached Bordeaux.
In Spain, a wildfire that engulfed Spain's Ávila region, northwest of the capital Madrid, is now considered the largest in the country's modern history, with around 50,000 hectares burned, the government said this week.
