Ian Wickett
Text credit:
Fire Warden Jake Jacobson
Feature image:
Ian Wickett
Feature image credit:
Brad Calkins, c. 2014
Photo credit:
1. James Murray, Salmon Arm Observer, c. 1998
1. Helicopters hovered over fires.
Ian Wickett was the former owner of the Salmon Arm Observer and knew the media business first hand.
When the Silver Creek fire jumped the Salmon Valley, Ian was probably secretly glad he was no longer Salmon Arm’s mayor. As it was Ian sold rolls and rolls of adding machine tapes during the fire. What was it used for? They were thrown from planes or helicopters as markers.
Ian didn’t get rich but the paper sales compensated for otherwise slow business days during the evacuation.
Read more….
Why use adding machine tapes?
The adding machine tapes, minus their environment unfriendly plastic core, were dropped by either fixed wing patrol planes or helicopters. They served as a physical marker to help ground crews find a hard to see or remotely located fire.
If a fire is located away from a road, aircraft crew will throw out adding machine tapes in a direct line so that crews can follow the path to the fire. Hanging from the trees, they form a good trail marker. You can even hear them flapping in the breeze at night.