B.C. water bomber arrives to fight California wildfires

One of the world's largest water bombers has arrived in Southern California to fight the wildfires that have been burning since Sunday.

The Martin Mars water bomber flew down from Vancouver Island to Lake Elsinore, Calif., on Wednesday. Damage from two bird strikes to the tail stabilizer was repaired overnight and the plane was gearing up for active duty Thursday morning.

The 60-year-oldgiantwater bomberis one of two remainingplanesoperated by a private company based in Port Alberni on Vancouver Island.

Originally,a group offorestry companies bought four of the surplustroop and cargocarriers fromthe U.S. Navy and converted them into water bombers in 1959.Onewas destroyed inan accident in 1962.A second was destroyed in ahurricane the same year.

Theaircraft can scoop up and drop 27,000 litres of water every 15 minutes, covering an area of 1.6 hectares, and have been deployed to fight wildfires around the world.

Officials in Southern California say the high winds fuelling the fires are dying down and the weather has turned cooler, allowing firefighters to make progress. Some residents have been allowed to return to their homes.

About onemillion people were evacuated from the areaas 18 fires burned down hundreds of homes, causing an estimated $1 billion US in damage in San Diego County alone.