Department of Natural Resources Lends Helping Hand

NATURAL RESOURCES--Department of Natural Resources Lends Helping Hand

The Department of Natural Resources has responded to an emergency request for help from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) to assist with fire fighting efforts in Alberta and Quebec.

Natural Resources Minister Tim Olive has approved sending 14 departmental fire staff to Slave Lake, Alberta, and Baie Comeau, Quebec. The fire staff will be assisting their provincial colleagues with efforts to gain control of forest fires that are currently burning out of control.

"We have sent two separate crews for a period of 10 to 14 days to help fight some of the largest fires in Canada happening in Alberta and new fires that started in Quebec," said Mr. Olive. "Four of our helitack crew members left on July 4 for Baie Comeau and 10 supervisory level fire staff left June 30 for Slave Lake."

The department has responded to requests for assistance under the Canadian Mutual Aid Resource Sharing (MARS) agreement administered by CIFFC -- the national organization responsible for co-ordinating the sharing of critical forest fire resources in Canada. Nova Scotia is a full participating member of this organization and the agreement provides rapid assistance and standardized costs for the benefit of all Canadian fire agencies. The sharing agreement is considered one of the best in the world.

Due to the seriousness of the fire situations in Western Canada and the United States, the availability of fire fighting resources across North America has become critically low. Considering that it is early July, fire officials in Western Canada are worried. Those provinces that do not have fires are assisting in any way possible.

"CIFFC has asked for our assistance and we are doing our part to help our Canadian neighbours," said Mr. Olive. "We are comfortable sending this assistance and want to assure Nova Scotians that the current fire situation in Nova Scotia is low and we do not expect any serious resource difficulties at this time. As well, this assistance is fully cost recovered and will not reduce the fire fighting budget for the province of Nova Scotia."

Last year in the province, the Department of Natural Resources made an urgent request for help to CIFFC, when staff were battling several fires across the province at one time and fire conditions were extreme. Two aircraft from Quebec immediately responded and greatly assisted the Natural Resources crews in bringing the major fires quickly under control.

The minister said that the experience the staff members gain from this assignment will prove to be invaluable and will increase the ability to effectively fight large fires in the future. Return dates for the two crews are July 16 from Alberta and July 20 from Quebec.