Federal assistance including military resources are being mobilized to help British Columbia’s fight against hundreds of wildfires, Minister of Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair announced Friday.
Blair said in a tweet he has approved a request for federal assistance to aid firefighters and emergency management personnel who are “working tirelessly” in B.C.
The assistance will come from across federal departments and the Canadian Armed Forces, Blair said.
Bowinn Ma, B.C.’s minister of emergency management and climate readiness, said in a statement she is grateful to the federal government for its support.
“We look forward to welcoming federal resources in B.C. to assist with wildfire response efforts as soon as possible,” she said. “They will work alongside the approximate 2,000 BC Wildfire Service personnel across our province, in addition to further international resources arriving this weekend.
“We will continue to use every tool necessary to keep people and communities safe.”
Ma said Thursday she had made the request, while Blair said earlier that he expected B.C. to seek “fairly substantive” assistance.
Blair said at the time that federal help could include military assistance for airlift evacuations from remote locations, as well as troops trained as firefighters who can “mop up” to keep blazes from reigniting.
The BC Wildfire Service said in a statement Friday that it has a “long history of working in partnership with the federal government during particularly challenging wildfire seasons.”
“We continue to work closely with the federal government and are grateful for the announcement that assistance has been mobilized,” the statement said.
The service is reporting the total number of active fires in the province has topped 360, while the number of threatening or potentially damaging blazes has jumped to 17.
Blair’s announcement came as the Central Coast Regional District issued an evacuation order covering 20 kilometres along the Dean River Valley, about 50 kilometres north of Bella Coola.
The district initially issued an alert Wednesday, but upgraded that to an order Friday. The order affects the area along the Dean River Valley east from Kimsquit Bay, extending to approximately 36 kilometres along the Dean River Valley, including two commercial lodges.
The BC Wildfire Service says the Dean River fire was caused by lightning and is about three square kilometres in size.
It joins at least 12 other evacuation orders or alerts that have been issued since Tuesday in the province.
B.C. Wildfire Service firefighter Kurt Wandler waits for his colleague Charlie Helton during a planned ignition on a wildfire burning near Vanderhoof, B.C.Jesse Winter/The Globe and Mail
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Wildfire crew members hike back towards their staging area after a long day on the fire line at a wildfire burning near Vanderhoof, B.C.Jesse Winter/The Globe and Mail
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Crew members take a short break after a day spent mopping up after a major planned ignition the night before on a wildfire near Vanderhoof, B.C.Jesse Winter/The Globe and Mail
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B.C. Wildfire fighter Cam Taylor watches a planned ignition at night on a wildfire burning near Vanderhoof, B.C.Jesse Winter/The Globe and Mail
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Wildfire crew members use hoses to wet down an area of ‘black’ — burned in a planned ignition the night before — to help prevent the main fire from spreading and reinforce control lines on a wildfire near Vanderhoof, B.C.Jesse Winter/The Globe and Mail
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Charlie Helton, a member of the B.C. Wildfire Service Columbia Unit Crew uses a drip torch on a planned ignition on a wildfire near Vanderhoof, B.C.Jesse Winter/The Globe and Mail
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A member of the B.C. Wildfire Service Columbia Unit Crew, Charlie Helton, gives an update to her crew leader during a planned ignition on a wildfire near Vanderhoof, B.C.Jesse Winter/The Globe and Mail
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Carson Long, a firefighter with the Alaska Smoke Jumpers, uses a drip torch to light ladder fuels around the trunk of a tree during a planned ignition on a wildfire near Vanderhoof, B.C.Jesse Winter/The Globe and Mail
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B.C. Wildfire crew member uses a hose to wet down an area of ‘black’ — burned in a planned ignition the night before — to help prevent the main fire from spreading and reinforce control lines on a wildfire near Vanderhoof,Jesse Winter/The Globe and Mail
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A tree candles as a B.C. Wildfire crew looks on during a planned ignition operation on a wildfire burning near Vanderhoof, B.C.Jesse Winter/The Globe and Mail
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Wildfire crew members watch as a planned ignition fire gushes embers into the sky.Jesse Winter/The Globe and Mail
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Alaska Smoke Jumper Tyler Moylan’s dinner is nearly snatched by a puppy belonging to a heavy equipment contractor while taking a break in a staging area near a wildfire burning near Vanderhoof, B.C.Jesse Winter/The Globe and Mail
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Jake Murie (right), a member of the Alaska Smoke Jumpers, works with the BC Wildfire Firehawk Unit Crew’s Mack Rowson to map a planned ignition on a wildfire near Vanderhoof, B.C.Jesse Winter/The Globe and Mail
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Alaska Smoke Jumper Jake Murie (right) speaks with his firing team ‘burners’ as they begin a planned ignition on a wildfire near Vanderhoof, B.C.Jesse Winter/The Globe and Mail
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Jake Murie, a firefighter from the Alaska Smoke Jumpers, maps out a planned ignition along an area of a wildfire burning near Highway 27 outside Vanderhoof, B.C..Jesse Winter/The Globe and Mail
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A member of the B.C. Wildfire Columbia Unit Crew (bottom left) uses a hose to wet down an area of ‘green’ on the outside of the machine-built fire guard while embers rain down from a planned ignition on a wildfire burning near Vanderhoof, B.C.Jesse Winter/The Globe and Mail
