Nanaimo Fire Hazard Rating 'Extreme'

AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND

HELP WITH B.C. FIRE FIGHT

British Columbia is preparing to welcome fire specialists from Australia and New Zealand as fire activity increases in the province, Forests and Range Minister Pat Bell announced today.

“The large number of fires is stretching our resources,” said Bell. “In addition to the support we already have from other provinces and territories, we are grateful for the assistance from these Australian and New Zealand professionals.”

The level of experience that these personnel provide will help maintain the Province’s high success rate on containing new fires. They will also augment our response on existing fires by allowing B.C. to redeploy more experienced personnel to supervise newly-trained emergency firefighters and offer crews the chance to take mandatory days off so they can safely rejoin suppression efforts for another cycle of operations.

Twenty-two personnel from Australia’s State of Victoria and eight personnel from New Zealand are scheduled to arrive Thursday. They will be assigned to fire duties by the weekend, and are expected to remain in the province for 30 days.

British Columbia has fostered a relationship with Australia for more than ten years, a relationship that culminated in the development of a resource-sharing agreement with the State of Victoria in December 2006. Since then, Australia has engaged B.C. wildland fire personnel on their fires in 2007 and 2009. The agreement provides an exchange of personnel, knowledge, skills, equipment, technologies and mutual support in the event of an emergency.

The New Zealand contingent is organized through the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) in Winnipeg by means of a new agreement established between Canada and New Zealand.

The escalating level of activity we are seeing has required fire officials to call on contingency resources. Approximately 2,000 Ministry of Forests Personnel, 750 B.C. contractors and 850 firefighters from out-of-province, local resources, and hundreds of crews trained under the Emergency Fire Fighter (EFF) program are engaged in fire response and support duties.

B.C. Wildfire Management has been in contact with other countries and the Department of National Defence. Officials have been monitoring the B.C. situation and their capacity. Military involvement is requested only if absolutely required, and only if military assistance does not jeopardize Canada's international commitments. They will be a “last in, first out” resource if required.

British Columbians are being asked to avoid all unnecessary travel in backcountry areas because of the extreme fire hazard. Our hard-working firefighters appreciate the public’s co-operation to date.

The public reports nearly half of all wildfires in B.C. Please continue to report smoke and flames by calling toll-free 1-800-663-5555 or *5555 on most cellular networks.

For more information, use this Nanaimo Info LINK.

The Province is asking people to reconsider their recreational activities and avoid travelling in remote backcountry areas where access is difficult. This is especially important as it helps reduce the risk of accidental fire starts, and alleviates the risk to people should remote areas be affected by fire. Should conditions continue to worsen, formal backcountry travel restrictions will be considered. Ministry of Forests and Range staff are preparing to establish information stops at major backcountry access routes for the beginning of August.

To see the fire hazard rating for different parts of B.C. use this Nanaimo Info LINK.

The above photo taken by Cher Crawford and published in the Vancouver Sun, is of the fire burning in the Gold River area of Vancouver Island.