Forest Fire Incident Commanders Depart for B.C.

Three Nova Scotia forest fire commanders are enroute to British Columbia to help battle fires that are raging in the southeastern area of the province.

The three department of Natural Resources incident commanders will supervise fire sites of up to 100 hectares.

Glenn Terris of the Antigonish regional office, Alasdair Patterson of the Coxheath office, and Jacob Penney of the Bridgewater office departed yesterday, Aug. 2, for Cranbrook, B.C. The three will support forest firefighting efforts under the Mutual Aid Resource Sharing Agreement.

The agreement, established in the early 1980s, ensures that provincial and territorial wildland forest firefighters will receive help if a forest fire becomes too big for them to handle alone.

"Nova Scotia is a committed partner in this agreement," said David Morse, Minister of Natural Resources. "We are always ready to assist our forest firefighting partners anywhere in Canada, as they are always ready to help us if we find ourselves in the same situation. No single province or territory has all the resources that deal with a widespread series of fires."

In addition to contributing to forest firefighting efforts and sharing knowledge and professional experience, the teams learn about different wildfire types and behaviours.

The three incident commanders are expected to return to Nova Scotia on Sunday, Aug. 20.