FIREFIGHTERS FROM AUSTRALIA HEAD TO B.C.

Highly-trained crews flown in to battle blazes

Firefighters from across the country — and the world — were heading to British Columbia Monday as wildfires continued to blaze out of control.

There were 159 fires burning in the province on Monday morning — 17 started on Sunday, said Kevin Skrepnek, of the B.C. Wildfire Service.

A total of 657 fires have been documented since the beginning of the 2017 season on April 1.

To date, the wildfire service estimates 1,880 square kilometres have burned.

“I suspect it is likely a larger number,” Skrepnek added.

As a comparison, 1,000 square kilometres burned in 2016; 2,800 in 2015; 3,690 in 2014. Skrepnek said other notable years were 2010, when 3,370 square kilometres burned, and 2009 when the full-season total was 2,470 square kilometres. Over the last 10 years, on average 1,540 square kilometres burn.

“Wind has been one of the biggest challenges,” he said on a provincewide media call on Monday afternoon.

The Department of National Defence said the military sent two planes and five helicopters to help with evacuations and provide transport for first responders.

Fifty Australian firefighters were also due to arrive Wednesday.

And a group of elite Nova Scotia firefighters will join the front lines. Twenty highly-trained firefighters and a manager will board a chartered plane in Halifax that is transporting firefighters from across the region to Kamloops and Prince George in the British Columbia interior on Tuesday.

Jim Rudderham, forest protection operations manager for Nova Scotia, said the “Type 1” firefighters have passed rigorous physical fitness and skills training tests.

“They are upper level firefighters,” he said. “They volunteer for this and they’re up to the task.”

The crew, made up of 19 men and one woman, would likely be assigned to “hold the line” on a fire to stop it from spreading, Rudderham said.

“They will be on the ground working,” he said. “They’ll try to make sure the fire doesn’t spread or create a new line by cutting around the edge of the fire to put it out.”

Officials in British Columbia say they are also beginning the difficult process of notifying those who have lost homes in the outof-control fires that have prompted a provincial state of emergency.

Cariboo Regional District chairman Al Richmond said Monday that teams have gained access to areas where houses and other buildings have been destroyed northwest of 100 Mile House.

“We can start to phone the residents who have had losses,” he said.

Crews are also working to restore electricity, telephone service and other infrastructure in regions evacuated after the fires broke out July 6.

“Our staff is actively engaging in the south Cariboo to look at re-entry plans for our residents, should they be able to return home,” Richmond said, although he cautioned return could be “a ways off.”

At least 40,000 people have been forced from their homes by the wildfires — 17,000 others are on evacuation alert.

A wind-fuelled flare-up of a fire near Williams Lake Saturday forced the evacuation of that city, but Richmond said crews kept the flames in check about five kilometres northwest of the community.

He said a sawmill was in the path of the 80-squarekilometre blaze should it advance, as is the Williams Lake emergency operation centre, but there had been no calls for further evacuations.

The fires have also been causing smoky conditions in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Alberta Health Services issued precautionary airquality advisories for its north and Calgary zones on Sunday, and in its Edmonton and Central zones last week.

David Strong, medical health officer for the health agency’s Calgary zone, said all parts of Alberta should be aware of potential health risks from the haze.

“We pretty much have a provincewide precautionary air advisory, because there’s no predicting where that smoke is going to go to,” he said Monday.

“I think right now Calgary area’s got the worst in terms of the air quality, but it’s going to fluctuate.”

Meanwhile, a man has been charged with possession of stolen property after RCMP say they recovered thousands of dollars of heavy equipment believed to have been taken from evacuated homes near Williams Lake.

The Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit said in a news release that its members worked with local RCMP and the B.C. Conservation Officer Service to investigate the alleged theft of machinery and equipment worth an estimated $65,000.

Sgt. Brenda Winpenny said police received information that a man was in the zone where homes had been evacuated on Saturday and they began their investigation.

She said the stolen goods were found on a remote property in the Beaver Creek area outside Williams Lake.