Fire and Rescue NSW welcomes home Canadian firefighting deployment - VIDEO - Sydney
Published: 29 Jun 2023 02:34pm
A handful of Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) firefighters has arrived home in Sydney as part of an Australasian relief team returning from Canada where it’s helped battle that nation’s wildfire emergency.
Four of the nine FRNSW firefighters, dispatched to the province of Alberta returned today, with five more colleagues about to leave Canada.
The FRNSW personnel were appointed to a variety of leadership roles such as Logistics Managers, Safety and Information Officers, Task Force Commanders and Strike Team leaders, tackling many out-of-control blazes across hundreds of thousands of hectares.
Along with dozens of colleagues from the NSW Rural Fire Service, the National Parks and Wildlife Service and Forestry NSW, the Australians joined firefighters from all over the world to support the emergency response.
FRNSW Bushfire and Aviation Commander, Superintendent Scott Donohoe, said the firefighting basics were the same but Canada’s heavily-wooded environment was an eye-opener.
“The landscape was predominantly Spruce trees and the undergrowth is an organic material, called ‘Muskeg,’ a peat-like material…mossy, damp, dense and quite spongy underfoot.
“That material combusts as well…so you have these fires that essentially burn beneath the ground and crews are forced to dig out the hotspots using hand-tools.”
Supt Donohoe praised the Canadian efforts, explaining that with rugged terrain preventing access by fire trucks, so-called ‘Smoke Jumpers” would often be deployed by helicopter into forests to clear landing pads for other firefighters.
“They put pumps on lake shorelines and they lay 10 to 15 kilometres of hose in some cases to deliver water where it’s needed.
“I’m really proud of the way all our firefighters adjusted quickly in Alberta and just got the job done,” Supt Donohoe said.
Whilst the emergency in Alberta has subsided, wildfires are still burning in other provinces.
Additional Australian firefighters, including FRNSW experts, have been deployed to those areas.
(Media Note: footage and firefighter grabs from the FRNSW team are available here: https://vimeo.com/840676613/253daa114e?share=copy [external link]
Updated: 29 Jun 2023 02:38pm
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