Last group of SA fire-fighters to return home after successful deployment to Canada
The Minister of Environmental Affairs, Mrs Edna Molewa, will tonight welcome the last group of firefighters returning from a successful fire-fighting deployment in Canada. The firefighters were deployed to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) to assist with Canadian wild fires during the months of July and August.
The Alpha crew were part of the 48 crew-members drawn from the South African Working on Fire programme (WoF), as part of a co-operative resource-sharing arrangement between Canadian and South African forest fire-fighting agencies. The first group arrived back in the country this past Friday.
The WoF members worked alongside international firefighting teams drawn from Mexico, USA and Australia. In anticipation of increasing fire-danger weather under probable conditions of climate change, the international firefighting community has been working together for years to put in place, exchange and resource-sharing agreements. This is the first successful deployment between Canada and South Africa.
The Working on Fire programme is an inter-Departmental programme administered through the Department of Environmental Affairs.
Media is invited to cover the arrival as follows:
Date: 24 August 2014
Time: 21h15
Place: OR Tambo International Airport.
To RSVP contact:
Marisa Burger
Tel: 012 399 9987
E-mail: mburger@environment.gov.za
For media queries, contact:
Zolile Nqayi
Cell: 082 898 6483
