Australian Firefighters Return from Fighting Wildfires in Canada

Australian firefighters and support personnel who travelled to Canada to help crews there fight severe wildfires have returned home.

The Australian crews were part of an international effort to fight more than 5,000 wildfires Alberta and British Columbia in western Canada.

Firefighters from South Africa, New Zealand, Mexico and the United States also took part.

Three million hectares of wilderness have been burnt so far.

Andrew Bennet, a commander with the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) said the firefighters who went to Alberta worked 12-hour days with minimal equipment.

“[They did] a lot of hard work, labour-intensive work in some pretty remote conditions,” he said.

He said the Australians spent a lot of time training other firefighters from countries including South Africa.

“The skills of our guys were highly regarded so they were able work at suppressing the fire, but also training other people up,” he said.

Their deployment was cut short because rain in the area helped control the fire.

Forty-eight people from every state have returned home while another 55 stayed behind to continue to fight the fires in British Columbia.

Emergency Management Commissioner, Craig Lapsley, said he was proud of the role Australian emergency services personnel played in fighting the Canadian fires.

“The Australian deployment has and will continue to offer valuable support to our Canadian counterparts to bring the remaining wildfires under control as quickly as possible,” he said.