More highly-trained Canadian wildfire specialists are off to Australia to help in the effort against the country's devastating bush fires.
Another 69 Canadians have been deployed after Aussie officials requested more help to battle the over 200 fires plaguing the country.
The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) says 27 incident management staff will leave for Melbourne Thursday, followed by two more incident managers and 40 firefighters on the weekend.
This is the sixth wave of Canadians helping out in Australia, bringing the total number to more than 160 people.
In response to a request from our Australian friends, Canada will deploy 69 additional fire management personnel to help with the devastating fires that continue to ravage Australia. We are all proud of their efforts. @MarisePayne pic.twitter.com/RJno6x7C1o
— François-Philippe Champagne (FPC) 🇨🇦 (@FP_Champagne) January 14, 2020
“Throughout the holiday season, the Canadian agencies worked diligently to find additional resources to assist our friends in Australia,” said Kim Connors, Executive Director of the CIFFC in a release.
“Canadians continue to offer their heartfelt support and sympathy to the people of Australia and the Canadian wild land community is working hard to identify additional resources in order to help with their suppression."
Canada will send 69 additional firefighting personnel from @CIFFC 🇨🇦 to help battle #AustralianFires 🔥 Leaving January 16–19, they will be deployed to the 🇦🇺 State of Victoria @vicemergency
— Tony Judd (@tony_judd) January 14, 2020
📷 @Pierre_Markuse pic.twitter.com/v3NHgRtbz7
While the Canadian specialists assume a variety of roles such command, aviation, planning, logistics and operations, none of those being deployed are front-line firefighters.
The latest wave will spend 31 days, all of it in the state of Victoria. Previous groups were deployed to other parts of the country, including Sydney.
Across the country, more than seven million hectares of land has been burnt by the blazes, killing 28 people, destroying or damaging more than 3,000 homes, and forcing the largest peacetime evacuation in Australia’s history.
With files from the Canadian Press.
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