Firefighters lauded for their work in Canada
A fourth group of 215 'Working on Fire' firefighters flew out to the province of British Columbia in Canada on Friday, August 25 to assist in one of the country's worst wildfire seasons.
This comes as the third group of firefighters who have been deployed to Alberta and the Northwest Territories, returned to South Africa on Wednesday, August 23 after a 33-day deployment. “A total of 860 firefighters and management staff have so far been deployed to Canada assisting in their worst fire season in history, with more than more than 5800 fires recorded so far this year,” said Ofentse Letswalo, provincial communications officer.
He said more than 137 000 square kilometres have been burned from one end of Canada to another.
“A state of emergency has been declared in British Columbia and a ban on non-essential travel is in place to free up accommodation for evacuees and firefighters. Forest fires are not uncommon in Canada, but the spread of blazes and disruptions underscore the severity of the calamity which some experts have blamed on climate change,” he said.
According to him never before has so many firefighters responded from so many countries to the wildfire challenges experienced by one country. “Our firefighters were lauded for their energy, their strong work ethic, and safety measures on the fireline, as well as for the way they have accustomed themselves to the conditions in Canada, where wildland firefighting conditions are different from what they were used to in South Africa,” he added.
Also read: Firefighters return from Canada as heroes
He said the deployment teams were carefully selected to ensure they could still provide wildfire prevention and firefighting services to South African landowners. According to the statement meteorologists and weather experts concluded that a combination of climate change and the global weather phenomenon, El Niño, is believed to be contributing to these extreme weather events.
“South Africa has not and will not be spared these impacts of climate change,” he said. He said at the El Niño 2023 Summit held in June 2023 at the University of Pretoria, CSIR senior researcher, Dr Neville Sweijd, emphasised the need for early preparation in anticipation of the potential impacts of the 2023 El Niño in South Africa and its neighboring countries. “The South African Weather Service expects the cyclical weather pattern to start impacting the country by the end of this year’s spring season,” he said.
