Staff Reporter.
The Working on Fire-Kishugu Joint Venture (WOF-Kishugu JV) has deployed a team of more than 200 firefighters and management to the Canadian province of Alberta to assist wildfires.
The wildfires near the Canadian town of Jasper have forced more than 25 000 to flee one of the country’s largest national parks as multiple blazes and thick smoke descended on the Rocky Mountain community.
The town is home to 5 000 full-time residents, alongside 5 000 seasonal workers.
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.
The MOU signed in 2019, provides for exchanging wild land fire management resources between the two countries.
The WOF have been on five deployments to Canada between 2015 and 2023 based on the MoU. The five deployments include the historic deployment of 860 firefighters and management in 2023, one of the largest deployments of international firefighters to Canada.
The group departed for Canada via a charter arranged by the CIFFC on Friday, 26 July 2024, from the Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport and are expected to be there for 39 days.
Meanwhile, 30% of the selected firefighters in the first deployment are women, including three members of the management team, which the WOF believes highlights its commitment to diversity and inclusion.
In addition, several of the team members have previous international firefighting experience, which further enhances their expertise in tackling complex fire situations.
The WOF has since reassured all their partners and stakeholders that this deployment will not have any impact on South African firefighting operations.
The organisation said they will still have just over 5 000 firefighters available at these bases throughout South Africa.
WOF is an expanded public works programme (EPWP) aimed at providing work opportunities to young men and women.
The programme, funded by the Department of Environmental Affairs, recruits participants from marginalised communities and trains them in fire awareness and education, fire prevention and fire suppression skills.