International Firefighters Mobilize to Assist Canada’s Unprecedented Wildfire Season

Canada is set to receive nearly 700 firefighters from South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States within the next two weeks, in response to the unusually severe start of the wildfire season.

Currently, over 500 international firefighters, incident commanders, and other personnel are already present in Alberta, where multiple severe fires have been raging since early May. While the majority of the additional assistance will be directed to Alberta, some resources are being deployed to Nova Scotia, where uncontrollable fires have been causing widespread destruction since last weekend.

According to Federal Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair, the Canada Interagency Forest Fire Centre ensures that crews from various provinces and countries are dispatched to the areas requiring the most assistance. Blair emphasizes that this fire season has been unparalleled in terms of the early occurrence of numerous large and uncontained fires, as well as the simultaneous impact on multiple provinces.

At present, there are 214 active fires, with 93 of them classified as out of control, marking an increase from 87 out-of-control fires reported on Thursday.