South Africa deploys more firefighters as Canada experiences worst wildfire season in history
“Canada is experiencing its worst wildfire season in their history with evacuations happening in British Columbia and the Northwest Territories this past weekend,” said Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Ms Barbara Creecy.
A fourth group of 215 South African firefighters from the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environments’ (DFFE) Working on Fire Programme (WoF) is set to fly out to the Province of British Columbia, Canada, this coming Friday, 25 August 2023.
The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) requested a fourth team of WOF firefighters (200 firefighters and 15 management team) to be deployed to the Province of British Columbia.
These firefighters will start to assemble at the Kishugu Training Academy this week as they start their preparations to be deployed to Canada, whilst at the same time, the third group of Working on Fire firefighters (215) who have been deployed to the Provinces of Alberta and the Northwest Territories, will return home to South Africa on Wednesday, 23 August 2023, 12H30 landing at Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport, after a successful 33 day deployment.
The deployment of the Mzanzi4 firefighters will bring in total 860 firefighters and management who would have been deployed to Canada during their worst fires season in history, with more than 5,800 fires recorded so far this year, destroying more than 14 Million Hectares. More than 137,000 square kilometres has been burned from one end of Canada to the other, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.
Minister Creecy extends her best wishes to the team (Mzanzi4 firefighters) as they embark on their deployment to Canada. “The deployment of our South Africa firefighters to Canada since June this year has been a resounding success thus far, and they have received huge praise from Canadian wildfire authorities as well as the other international firefighters from countries such as the USA, Mexico, Spain, Chile, Australia.”
“Our firefighters were lauded for their energy, their strong work ethic and safety measures on the fireline, as well as for the way they have accustomed themselves to the conditions in Canada, where wildland firefighting conditions are different from what they are used to in South Africa,” said Minister Creecy.
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