Minnesota company's fleet of locally-made Fire Boss planes helping battle Canadian wildfires
SOUTH ST. PAUL, Minn. – Minnesota is covered in a hazardous haze from more than 250 Canadian wildfires.
Dauntless Air is a Minnesota company that operates a fleet of aircraft that can rapidly dump water on remote fires. The Fire Boss aircraft they use is made in South St. Paul.
RELATED: Canadian wildfire maps show where fires continue to burn across Quebec, Ontario and more provinces
Two of the planes were deployed to Ontario, says Dauntless Air CEO Brett L'Esperance.
"We can bring 9,000-15,000 gallons of water in an hour if we're running two aircraft simultaneously, and that's a very overwhelming amount of water on a fire very quickly," L'Esperance said.
The wildfire season in Canada can last well into fall, which means the worst of the fires, and smoke, could still be far off.
RELATED: Expert advice on how to protect yourself from wildfire smoke