The National Aerial Surveillance Program beyond our waters: Serving Canadians during Hurricane Fiona

Picture this: It’s Saturday morning and you’re about to have your first sip of coffee, when suddenly, you get a call to jump on a plane and help respond to a natural disaster in your community.?

That’s how NASP crew member Ben Fortier’s morning began on September 24, 2022. Ben, a Surveillance Officer, was asked to assess damage left behind by Hurricane Fiona, which resulted in unprecedented levels of flooding, power outages, and structural damage in Atlantic Canada.?

Knowing it wouldn’t be a regular day on the job, Ben joined his colleagues on the Moncton-based Dash-8 plane, ready to do some aerial surveillance over impacted areas.?

While the NASP team’s daily tasks usually involve pollution monitoring, assessing weather conditions, and planning flight routes, this was a mission like no other – resulting in five flights over three days and a total of 23 hours of emergency surveillance in support of the incident. During the mission, Ben recalls witnessing “huge sections of the coastlines being washed out, […] lots of downed trees, […] and many grain silos that were knocked down.”

During response efforts, data gathered from the crew helped support response partners, like @Public Safety Canada and @Infrastructure Canada, by helping them assess damage rapidly and tailor a more efficient response.

Assessing national disasters like Hurricane Fiona is just one of the ways the iconic NASP red planes? are serving Canadians from coast-to-coast-to-coast. On a regular basis, and with support from the Oceans Protection Plan, the crew helps protect our oceans and coastal waterways by watching for pollution, monitoring endangered whales, and keeping marine shipping safer for everyone.?

?? Some of these images, captured by Ben and his team, show some of the damage left behind Hurricane Fiona.?

Read more about the NASP’s response to Hurricane Fiona in the new and revamped newsletter Tidings: Stories from Canada’s Oceans Protection Plan: