International firefighters arrive in B.C. to assist in wildfire efforts | 24CA News
British Columbia welcomed round 100 firefighters from Brazil over the weekend to help within the response to the province’s wildfires.
During a press convention Sunday on the Abbotsford Air Tanker Base, each Bownn Ma, Minister of Emergency Management and Climate Preparedness and the Consulate General of Brazil, Renato Mosca, welcomed the out-of-country firefighters.
“We are incredibly grateful to each and every one of them,” stated Ma.
“They will join over 600 out-of-province firefighting resource personnel already here in British Columbia, as well as the 2,000 BC Wildfire personnel that are already fighting fires.”
Currently, there are 480 wildfires burning within the province, with a number of evacuation orders and alerts in impact presently.
Ma says, with the extra firefighters, the province feels assured in regards to the variety of assets it has.
The firefighters landed Friday night and have been collaborating in briefings and are being deployed to the Prince George Fire Centre.
Mosca praised the connection Brazil has with Canada and says Brazil has a lot to contribute in the course of the wildfire season.
“The bilateral relationship with Canada has always been one of the friendliest,” stated Mosca. “I’m convinced that this cooperation between our great nations is one important step to control wildfires in British Columbia.”
Ma says that is the primary time firefighters from Brazil have come to B.C. to help in fireplace suppression efforts.
So far this yr, British Columbia has seen 1.48 million hectares of forest burned, with the overwhelming majority of that within the Prince George Fire Centre.
With the province coping with extraordinarily dry situations, Ma says one in every of her and the federal government’s largest issues with this wildfire season is the continued drought.
“When it comes to extreme drought, a lot of the impacts of what we forecast will likely not be felt by communities for many weeks yet and there could be medium and long-term consequences of an extreme drought if the land base isn’t replenished by a significant amount of precipitation over the fall and the winter,” stated Ma.
“If we do not receive that precipitation then we could enter 2024 in another drought situation.”
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