(OTTAWA) Canada and the United States on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding to better coordinate their fight against forest fires. More than 1,500 American firefighters have come to the country to battle the blazes since the start of the season, one of the worst in decades.
“In the past, we were in reaction when we worked with the United States to extinguish [les feux], explained the Minister of Natural Resources, Jonathan Wilkinson. And that understanding is much broader to deal with a future where we expect to see massive wildfires. »
The two countries intend to share information on the prevention of these fires. “How can we use technology to be more efficient, including Canada’s access to satellite imagery,” he added.
Minister Wilkinson was flanked by Minister of Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair and US Ambassador to Canada David Cohen. The latter indicated that the memorandum of understanding will make it possible to better organize the work of all the Canadian and American agencies involved in the fight against forest fires.
“There’s always been a desire to help, it’s never been a problem,” Cohen said. But sometimes organizing it in the middle of a crisis takes longer than we would like. »
The Memorandum of Understanding provides a structure for faster collaboration between the two governments.