With dozens of forest fires ravaging northern Alberta, local Ministry of Natural Resources firefighters were deployed there Sunday to help fight the raging blazes.
Crew leaders Dave Wickstrom and Shawn Corrigan, and crew members George Harrison, Rod Stamarski, Bob Botsford, Amy Welsh, Brian Mackintosh, and Seth Wing joined about 90 other firefighters from Ontario sent to help Albertan crews, MNR fire operations supervisor Lucy Tower said Monday morning.
“They were flying into Slave Lake, which is located about 100 km north of Edmonton,” noted Tower, adding fire management technician Larry Brant left for Alberta earlier Monday.
That fire, which is about 1,417 hectares in size, is still burning but the local crews were re-located today to the 15,000-ha blaze near the hamlet of Chisholm, where residents have had to be evacuated.
“We found out [Sunday] that it would be their first priority after they had arrived at the other fire,” said fire information officer Andrew Larmandi.
Tower mentioned it was “hard to say” when the crews would return.
“It depends on the weather there. If it goes on, we’d probably start a rotating schedule,” she said. A standard period for long-distance assistance is three weeks.
A total of 25 four-person crews have been sent from Ontario, including 13 from the West Fire Region. Local firefighter Matt Myers also is in Alberta, serving as one of an 11-person command team which arrived in advance of the crews.
Hot, dry weather and high winds have made for a dire situation in northern Alberta, where fires already have consumed close to 300 square km of forest.
On the other hand, the wet weather here has kept the fire hazard at “low” level for weeks. The 10 other four-person crews here, as well as fire management staff, have been training since earlier this month, noted Tower.
Local firefighters were last dispatched to help crews in Montana last August.
Fort Frances Times
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