(Ottawa) The government is doing everything to obtain the necessary resources to fight the forest fires. However, they are overloaded, admitted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday. For its part, National Defense does not rule out providing pilots to drive tanker planes in the event of a shortage.
“First of all in the immediate situation, we are doing everything to ensure that we have the resources, whether it is the firefighters, whether it is the equipment, whether it is the necessary transport or the tanker planes. necessary to respond to emergencies across the country, ”assured Mr. Trudeau during a press conference to take stock of the forest fires that are raging across the country.
The number of fires still active totals 414 from east to west, of which 239 are considered out of control. It is “the toughest year on record,” acknowledged Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair. In all, Canada has recorded 2,293 fires since the start of the year. An area of approximately 3.8 million hectares was consumed. More than 20,000 people are currently evacuated.
“We see that we are in a worse year than what we have already had and our resources are stretched, but we continue to be there as far as possible,” said the Prime Minister.
“But it is certain that for the years to come, we will have to think about equipping ourselves for this new reality. We will face more and more extreme weather events that will cost more and more to families, communities and also for our country. »
The Canadian Press reported on Tuesday that Canada has not built air tankers like the Canadairs CL-215 and CL-415 since 2015. Bombardier has since sold its air tanker program to established Viking Air. in British Columbia, which will not build its first aircraft until 2027 and whose order book is already full to supply Indonesia, France, Spain and other European countries.
In the shorter term, it is the tanker pilots of the Society for the Protection of Forests against Fire (SOPFEU) who will be missing within a week in Quebec. These will have reached their maximum duty time within a week. Could National Defense then provide pilots?
“We know we have a capability here in Canada,” said Minister Anita Anand. We continue to look at this possibility to help with our forces, with the forest fires and with other international things. »
However, she was careful to point out that the Canadian Armed Forces were already in “reconstitution” and that they must recruit more personnel.
With Charles Lecavalier, The Pressand The Canadian Press