WA sends more firefighting resources to combat Canadian wildfires

Another 29 firefighters and fire management specialists are bound for Canada today, with Western Australia answering renewed calls for help as the nation experiences its most destructive wildfire season on record.

Fifteen volunteer firefighters from Perth, Lancelin, Gingin, Albany and Mount Barker and five Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) Parks and Wildlife Service staff will join frontline firefighting efforts around Alberta.

Two Department of Fire and Emergency Services staff and seven DBCA personnel will also lend their skills in complex incident management functions such as public information, sector command, fire behaviour analysis and heavy equipment coordination.

Western Australia has already sent 50 people to Canada since late May, with around half returning home after spending four weeks in Alberta and British Columbia.

Pictured above: DFES and DBCA personnel at the Kimiwan complex fire

Australian and New Zealand fire agencies collectively have deployed more than 550 personnel, joining reinforcements from around the world to support their Canadian counterparts. The deployments are coordinated by AFAC’s National Resource Sharing Centre.

About 9.4 million hectares have burnt across Canada so far this year, more than three times the amount of land burnt by bushfires in WA in the last 12 months.

Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner Darren Klemm AFSM said the area burnt was equivalent to an area one and a half times the size of Tasmania.

“WA personnel will make a huge difference, relieving exhausted local crews on the frontline and providing their expertise in managing complex fires in difficult terrain,” Commissioner Klemm said.

“I thank all 79 personnel who put up their hand to help their international counterparts and protect lives and homes under threat by hundreds of out-of-control fires.

“The contingent of volunteers have also undergone strenuous fitness and medical testing to prepare them for arduous firefighting in Canada’s mountainous terrain and will bring a wealth of experience from regional WA.”