×

MNR fire rangers deployed to fight western wildfires

By Tim Davidson Jul 31, 2024 | 6:35 AM

It’s been a pretty quiet forest fire season in northwestern Ontario.

The same can’t be said for western Canada with hundreds of wildfires burning, particularly in the Jasper, Alberta area.

Fire information officer Alison Bezubiak says they’ve been lending out fire fighters all season, particularly in the past month.

“The Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Services have deployed over 400 fire rangers and over 100 overhead staff out of province,” explains Bezubiak.

“These totals include all personnel deployments that have taken place so far this season.  The majority being in July to western Canada.”

Bezubiak says a lot of the activity has been in the last couple of weeks.

“276 personnel deployed to support wildland fire firefighting efforts out of province.   At this time, we have Ontario fire rangers working in Manitoba, Alberta, British Columbia and we have additional personnel and resources deployed to Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories.”

She adds that the MNR does keep enough firefighting resources here at home to make sure we’re not left short-handed.

(File photo)