EDMONTON – Last Sunday, 281 South African firefighters touched down in Edmonton on their way to relieve the tired crews that have been working the northern Alberta fires near Fort McMurray since May 2.
The team members came from several African nations, and although their acquaintance was new, they bonded by singing the deep, rich songs of Africa. The
Canadian Broadcasting Corp. posted videos of their songs (
http://www.CBC.ca/news/canada/edmonton/fort-mcmurray-fire-south-africa-1.3605976). They will remain in Alberta for two weeks working where exhausted firefighters need relief and where resources are stretched thin.
Canada is part of a program with several other countries run by the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre that co-ordinates requests for assistance from provinces that are in need of additional resources.
2 Comments
Pierre
Funny that it took so long for our illustrious PM Trudeau to actually take upon the international community offer of help, after having let thousands of hectares of forests burn over weeks on end. After turning down earlier offers from Japan and Russia, in particular, the South Africans apparently made the cut in his mind. Not sure what the people of Fort McMurray would have replied to the earlier overtures for help… Guess they were not asked for it anyway!
Canadian Mining Journal
I cannot speak to the Japanese offer, but the Russians reportedly offered to send water bombers. However, flying without a hardened control protocol is difficult enough in windy and smokey conditions for pilots who speak excellent English and are familiar with the terrain and landmarks. Adding foreign pilots to a mix such as that could have easily resulted in crashes and injury or death to the Canadian pilots and ground crews. — MS