Premier Extends Thanks to Out of Province Firefighters

Friday, September 11, 2009 12:03 PM

At the B.C.-Alberta-Saskatchewan joint Cabinet meeting in Calgary today, B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell extended thanks to Alberta and Saskatchewan crews that assisted in fighting B.C.'s wildfires.

"This past summer, British Columbia had one of the most challenging fire seasons on record, with over 3,000 fires, of which over 200 directly threatened communities," said Premier Campbell. "We could not have had the incredible success in protecting communities without the expert assistance of fire personnel from across Canada. We are grateful to our colleagues across the country, and the brave men and women who came to B.C. to assist in our firefighting efforts."

Alberta assisted B.C.'s fire fighting efforts with the loan of 428 firefighters and support staff, while Saskatchewan loaned 173 people.
Other provinces also provided assistance with fire fighting personnel:

* 1,386 from Ontario.
* 137 from Manitoba.
* 70 from Quebec.
* 5 from New Brunswick.
* 24 from Nova Scotia.
* 59 from Northwest Territories.
* 43 from Yukon.
* 12 from Parks Canada.

"The expertise, experience and skills of these visiting fire suppression personnel were essential to the huge accomplishment of managing this year's forest fire situation and speaks to the value of the mutual aid resource sharing agreements," said Premier Campbell.

Deployments are co-ordinated by the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre through mutual aid resource sharing agreements the provinces have with each other.

Also this summer, fire fighting personnel came from the U.S., including Alaska and Washington, as well as Australia and New Zealand.

The efforts of those from out-of-province supplemented the efforts of over 2,000 Ministry of Forests and Range personnel, over 750 contractors from local B.C. communities and 250 emergency firefighters who trained this summer.