The fourth group of firefighters from Working on Fire (WOF) deployed to British Columbia, Canada, consisting of 215 members, returned home on September 25, following their successes, having played a pivotal role during the past month in the firefighting efforts against the wildfires raging in the province.
WOF’s managing director, Trevor Abrahams, said the firefighters had been deployed to Canada on August 25 as part of a larger contingent of 860 South African firefighters and management. They provided assistance to the Canadian firefighting authorities in Alberta, the Northwest Territories and British Columbia since the beginning of June.
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“Working on Fire has executed four deployments since June, totalling 860 firefighters and management personnel, to Canada during one of the most severe wildfire seasons in history. Canada has recorded more than 6 330 fires this year, resulting in the destruction of over 17 million hectares of land.
“The deployment of our firefighters was a response to a request for assistance from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre based on the existing Memorandum of Understanding [MoU] signed between Canada and South Africa in 2019. This MoU allows for the exchange of wildland fire management resources between the two countries,” he said.
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Abrahams also thanked all the firefighters for their dedication and teamwork, and the fact that they all came back with no injuries was a bonus. He also said the successful mission shows the WOF firefighters can tackle any fire anywhere in the world.