(Montreal) Fifty forest firefighters from Quebec will be lending a hand to their colleagues in Alberta starting Friday, as that province is still struggling with numerous active fires.
The Société de protection des forêts contre le feu (SOPFEU) specified that the 50 forest firefighters, who will be accompanied by a representative of the SOPFEU, will fly on Friday from the airports of Quebec and Val-d’Or.
Their mission in Alberta will last two weeks.
Two SOPFEU radio operators have already been in Alberta since August 16, while an operations section manager travelled to the province on August 21.
According to the Alberta Wildfire Agency, there are 74 active wildfires burning in the province as of Thursday morning. Of those, 44 are considered “controlled,” 29 are “contained,” while one is still “out of control.”
SOPFEU specifies that it is able to lend resources to Western Canada because the fire situation in Quebec allows it to do so “without harming its capacity to intervene on Quebec territory.”
In addition, 80 Quebec forest firefighters who have been on a mission in British Columbia since August 13 will return home late Thursday.
In Quebec, there are no longer any active forest fires in the intensive protection zone. Forest firefighters have fought 283 since the start of the season.
There are still 18 active fires in the northern zone.