A 43-person Fire and Emergency New Zealand taskforce adds to the existing assistance in Canada this week for the Manitoba province’s wildfire response.
A seven-person specialist team is now joined by an agency representative, two taskforce leaders and eight five-person arduous firefighting crews.
Like the specialist team, they will be deployed for approximately five weeks.
Canada is currently experiencing a severe wildfire season and all its national resources are fully deployed.
There are some 518 wildfires raging across multiple provinces and over 145 of these are considered out of control - with 105 fires in Manitoba province alone.
The firefighters are considered ‘arduous firefighters’ for tough physical work. Previous Canadian deployments have seen arduous firefighters using hand tools to dig out hotspots, cut fallen branches, clear access tracks and escape routes, mop up, and all the other jobs associated with fighting large-scale fires.
This contingent is a mix of Fire and Emergency crews alongside Department of Conservation and forestry companies, and a New Plymouth District Council representative.
The deployed firefighters are from the following Fire and Emergency Districts:
Northland: 5
Waitematā: 3
Counties Manukau: 2
Waikato: 2
Bay of Plenty: 9
Gisborne: 1
Taranaki: 2
Hawke’s Bay: 1
Manawatū-Whanganui: 1
Wellington: 4
West Coast: 1
Mid-South Canterbury: 6
Otago: 6
