New Brunswick is sending 16 forest rangers to Australia to help battle wildfires. (Photo: Government of New Brunswick/Twitter)
A flight leaves for Australia Thursday with Forest Rangers from the Maritimes on board, including sixteen from New Brunswick.
The others are from Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.
Provincial Fire Equipment Coordinator Matthew Ruff says they’ll be helping to battle raging wildfires in that country.
He believes it is the first time ever they have gone there to help.
“The fire community is a small community in the world. Each agency within Canada, we share resources and Internationally. Australia has been in Canada a few times. They are in need of help, so we are offering them support,” he said.
Ruff says it is a really good feeling to be able to help people out, many of them who have lost everything.
“This is one of their worst fire years in Australia. People have lost homes and some have lost everything they have. It is nice to be able to have an opportunity to help them out in this situation,” Ruff said.
The team flew to Vancouver yesterday and they are heading to Australia tonight. When they arrive, they could be doing a number of things.
“You never know with a fire situation, it is dynamic and always changing. We may go to one part and the fire is worse in another part, and they may put us there. We’ll be doing various fire suppression activities,” said Ruff.
Wildfires spread throughout most of Australia, and Ruff says they have been in a drought situation for the last three years. Some towns have to truck in water to fight the fires.
“This time we will be gone roughly a month, so it is definitely a longer assignment. It will definitely be hotter and it is a lot windier in Australia, so it’ll be challenging for sure,” Ruff said.
He added that the Australian government is paying for the crew to make the trip.
