(Montreal) Although the rain of recent days has given respite to those fighting forest fires in Western Canada, they will soon receive reinforcements from Quebec.
The Society for the Protection of Forests Against Fire (SOPFEU) announced Sunday that around twenty forest firefighters as well as a SOPFEU representative will be deployed to Manitoba. A SOPFEU information officer will also be deployed to Alberta.
These people left Quebec on Saturday bound for Western Canada.
The government of Quebec is a signatory to the Canadian Mutual Aid Agreement in the event of forest fires.
“The situation prevailing in Quebec and the operational capabilities of SOPFEU allow it to lend resources to its colleagues in other provinces without harming its ability to intervene on Quebec territory,” specifies the SOPFEU press release.
Since the start of the season, SOPFEU teams have already fought 96 fires which burned 105.5 hectares of forest, according to its most recent statistics.
SOPFEU invites the population to be extra careful during this spring period, when conditions are often conducive to the outbreak of fires.