A second deployment of 49 firefighting specialists from NSW will join an additional Australian and New Zealand contingent of 158 in Canada this week with most of this delegation being arduous firefighters, who will provide welcome relief to their Canadian colleagues on the fire front. Source: Timberbiz
With 220 personnel already on the ground in Alberta, this will bring the total number of Australians and New Zealanders deployed to 378.
Other roles being carried out by the deployment include incident management and specialist aviation duties to help bring more than 200 active fires under control. More than 2,100 fires have burnt through more than 3.3 million hectares to date, with Canadian fire agencies remaining at their highest alert level.
The deployment of the Australian team is coordinated through the National Resource Sharing Centre and includes 28 firefighters from the RFS, 10 from the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, six from Forestry Corporation NSW, four from Fire and Rescue NSW and one member from the NSW SES.
“Today we wish a further 10 National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) specialist firefighters safe travels as they head off to join the international effort to bring the Canadian wildfires under control,” Minister for the Environment, Penny Sharpe said.
“The crew departing today join their 12 NPWS colleagues already on the ground in the Alberta province.”
Minister for Agriculture, Regional and Western NSW, Tara Moriarty, said that it was reassuring to know the NSW Forestry Corporation possesses firefighters with expertise in combating native forest fires.
