The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador is supporting additional requests for support to help address the forest fire situation in British Columbia and Ontario. Three forest firefighting personnel from the Department of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture, departed the province yesterday to support a request for assistance from British Columbia. In addition, the current deployment of two water bombers and crews to Ontario that was scheduled to conclude on August 1, has been extended for five days.
This team headed to British Columbia will include an Incident Commander, a Logistics Section Chief, and one Logistics Section Chief trainee. The trainee will use the experience acquired in British Columbia to support ongoing training required for forest fire incident management certification. It is anticipated that this team will be in the Kamloops region for 14 days.
Requests for assistance are administered through the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, Mutual Aid Resource Sharing (MARS) agreement. This agreement between provinces provides for the efficient sharing of forest firefighting resources where required throughout the country.
Adequate fire suppression resources remain in place throughout Newfoundland and Labrador to manage forest fires. This includes two water bombers, several helicopters and firefighting staff, strategically located throughout the province.
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“As the provinces of British Columbia and Ontario continue to face threats from forest fires, we are pleased to provide personnel to help assist colleagues and support residents during this challenging time. The deployment of personnel to British Columbia also serves as an opportunity for forest fire trainee staff from this province to obtain experience and the certification required to perform future forest fire incident management duties.”
Honourable Derrick Bragg
Minister of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture
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Craig Renouf
Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture
637-2923, 640-6922
craigrenouf@gov.nl.ca