South African firefighters depart to fight Canadian wildfires

The KMI Airport was awash with the bright yellow uniforms of all the South African firefighters on Saturday June 3 when they departed to fight the wildfires in Alberta, Canada.

The 200-strong team from the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment’s Working on Fire (WOF) programme included 26 firefighters and a regional manager from the Lowveld and Highveld escarpment, according to the provincial WOF’s spokesperson, Amanda Mthembu.

A statement from the department said the team will be joined by another 200 South African firefighters in a week’s time, and that the deployment is expected to last for 35 days. It said Alberta has already experienced more than 550 wildfires this season, resulting in significant damage to property and infrastructure and displacing thousands of people. Evacuation orders have been put in place in many areas.

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The country’s firefighters underwent an intensive three-day refresher training course at the Kishugu Training Academy in Mbombela before heading off to Canada.

The statement said the request for urgent assistance came from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) in terms of the existing memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Canada and South Africa. It said the MoU was signed in 2019 and provides for the exchange of wildland fire management resources. It was put in place following two earlier deployments to Canada to suppress wildfires in Alberta and Manitoba.

“In 2021, the Manitoba government thanked the WOF’s firefighters for their assistance in fighting extreme wildfires in the province,” said the statement. “The firefighters were praised for their professionalism and dedication to their jobs, as well as great team spirit shown through their colourful marching, chanting and singing at Richardson International Airport in Winnipeg upon their arrival, and when moving through the communities where they were deployed.”