Australian firefighters to bolster B.C. wildfire effort

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — As B.C. continues to battle blazes across the province, a boost of personnel from the Southern Hemisphere is coming to the province.

Thirty-four Australian firefighting personnel will be touching down in Vancouver on Tuesday.

The Australian crew will include a nine-person incident management team, along with various specialized operational roles.

In a statement Monday, Katrine Conroy, minister of forests, said Australia and Canada have a long history of helping each other out when wildfire activity is high.

“During this extremely challenging fire season, we greatly appreciate the support we’re receiving from Canadian provinces, the federal government and our partners abroad,” she said.

After the crew touches down, they will be briefed on the current wildfire situation, receive their assignments and be deployed under direction of the BC Wildfire Service.

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Mike Farnworth, minister of public safety, said that it’s encouraging to see the support from Australia.

“That country has also experienced extremely difficult fire seasons recently, so they understand our situation and I’m pleased they are providing assistance,” he said.

The crew will be under strict COVID-19 protocols and will work in “bubbles” to minimize risk.

The Australians are joining hundreds of other out-of-province firefighting personnel in B.C., including 101 Mexicans who arrived last week.

As of Monday, 3,558 people are involved in firefighting operations across B.C.

According to one weather expert, a combination of intense heat and drought conditions is causing wildfires in Western Canada to generate their own weather systems.

Michael Fromm, a meteorologist with the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, said these firestorms last anywhere between two and five hours, they happen in the late afternoons and end when the air turns cooler or it runs into a fire break.

“In late June, in British Columbia on two successive days, we had these PyroCbs [pyrocumulonimbus cloud] in southern British Columbia,” he said.

The risk remains high to extreme over most of southern B.C, and the BC Wildfire Service says 40 blazes are ranked as fires of note, meaning flames are either highly visible or pose an immediate safety risk.

Another 160 members of the Canadian Armed Forces are also scheduled to join the effort by Wednesday.