PERTH Hills firefighter Paul Musarra is in Canada helping battle out-of-control forest fires threatening communities across the province of British Columbia.
The Parks and Wildlife Service firefighter is part of a 50-strong Australian contingent that will be based in Canada for up to six weeks.
“I’m pretty excited to be going over to that part of the world to fight fires but pretty nervous on the inside,” he said.
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READ NOWBritish Columbia Wildfire Service chief fire information officer Kevin Skrepnek said a state of emergency was declared on July 7.
“The wildfire situation is continually evolving and there are currently 155 wildfires burning in British Columbia,” he said.
“Since April 1, 2017, there have been a total of 675 wildfires in the province that have burned a total of 327,000ha.”
Mr Skrepnek said there were 3007 firefighters and other personnel fighting the fires, as well as 220 helicopters and planes supporting ground crews.
More than 45,000 residents had been evacuated.
Acting Environment Minister David Templeman said the latest deployment, part of an agreement between Australia’s National Aerial Firefighting Centre and the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, continued a tradition of international assistance in times of crisis, with WA firefighters serving in Canada in 2009, 2014 and 2015.
“Our firefighters are performing a vital role in helping to relieve exhausted Canadian emergency services crews who have been battling major fires since earlier this month,” he said.
“With more than 2.5 million hectares of forested land currently managed by Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, these West Australian officers are well prepared to deal with the challenging conditions they will confront in Canada.
“Apart from the mutual assistance benefits of these deployments, experience has shown them to be excellent professional learning opportunities for staff.”
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