Warrigal
SF VIP
- Location
- Sydney, Australia
When fires are out of control over here, and things are really bad, we find fire fighters form Canada and the USA coming over to provide welcome relief for our exhausted fireys.
Now it's our turn to send help for the Canadians.
Australian firefighting reinforcements head to Canada to help battle 400 bushfires
Mon 13 Jul 2015
Australian firefighters have flown to Canada to help the country's emergency services battle more than 400 bushfires burning in three provinces.
The fires in Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan cover more than 1 million hectares and 102 Australian firefighters and logistics specialists are en route to provide a "surge capacity" to help the Canadians.
Joe Buffone, the Victorian state response controller, said Canada and Australia were some of the most fire-prone areas in the world.
The two countries have shared a "strong relationship" for 15 years, Mr Buffone told 774 ABC Melbourne, with Australian firefighters travelling to Canada three times since 2009.
"We have a formal agreement [with Canada] to provide firefighters," he said. "Obviously it's a credit to our fire and emergency management people that we get requested to go overseas. We've got some highly skilled people in Victoria."
Mr Buffone said the Canadian fire season had started early and was predicted to continue throughout the summer period.
"Their resources are stretched so it's the ability to pretty much have that surge capacity," he said. "They've actually drawn from South Africa, Mexico and the United States as well."
About 40 per cent of those taking part in the mission are in management positions and 60 per cent are field-based and come from organisations like the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, the Country Fire Authority and Emergency Management Victoria.
'It's been a huge logistical process to actually get them together, get the skills matched," Mr Buffone said.
There are 45 firefighters from Victoria, 32 from New South Wales, 12 from Western Australia, five from ACT, four from Tasmania, three from Queensland and one from South Australia.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-...ad-to-canada-to-help-battle-bushfires/6616966
Now it's our turn to send help for the Canadians.
Australian firefighting reinforcements head to Canada to help battle 400 bushfires
Mon 13 Jul 2015
Australian firefighters have flown to Canada to help the country's emergency services battle more than 400 bushfires burning in three provinces.
The fires in Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan cover more than 1 million hectares and 102 Australian firefighters and logistics specialists are en route to provide a "surge capacity" to help the Canadians.
Joe Buffone, the Victorian state response controller, said Canada and Australia were some of the most fire-prone areas in the world.
The two countries have shared a "strong relationship" for 15 years, Mr Buffone told 774 ABC Melbourne, with Australian firefighters travelling to Canada three times since 2009.
"We have a formal agreement [with Canada] to provide firefighters," he said. "Obviously it's a credit to our fire and emergency management people that we get requested to go overseas. We've got some highly skilled people in Victoria."
Mr Buffone said the Canadian fire season had started early and was predicted to continue throughout the summer period.
"Their resources are stretched so it's the ability to pretty much have that surge capacity," he said. "They've actually drawn from South Africa, Mexico and the United States as well."
About 40 per cent of those taking part in the mission are in management positions and 60 per cent are field-based and come from organisations like the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, the Country Fire Authority and Emergency Management Victoria.
'It's been a huge logistical process to actually get them together, get the skills matched," Mr Buffone said.
There are 45 firefighters from Victoria, 32 from New South Wales, 12 from Western Australia, five from ACT, four from Tasmania, three from Queensland and one from South Australia.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-...ad-to-canada-to-help-battle-bushfires/6616966
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