Forestry Corporation is helping with Australia’s support of fire authorities in Canada.
A further six Forestry Corporation firefighters will fly out of Sydney this week to assist with the country’s wildfire emergency.
Already 220 Australasian firefighters and incident controllers have been deployed to Canada where this season more than 2,200 fires have burnt across 3.3 million hectares of land.
Of the 49 personnel deploying today 28 are from the Rural Fire Service, 10 from the National Parks and Wildlife Service, six from Forestry Corporation, four from Fire and Rescue NSW and one from the NSW State Emergency Service.
Forestry Corporation firefighters being sent abroad this week include Jamie Harris from Wauchope, Matt Model from Bonny Hills, Vince Bolton from Grafton, Dave Anderson from Bathurst, Jarod Addinsall from Eden and Anthony Post from Tumut.
Anthony Post has worked with Forestry Corporation in the Snowy Region for 39 years having attended countless fires across the state during that time.
“Canadian crews have often been part of these campaigns in Australia as summer term employees and this is my chance to give back and assist in their firefighting effort,” Anthony said.
“I am looking forward to experiencing their different firefighting techniques and methods and sharing ours,” he said.
Jarod Addinsall said it was a great privilege and opportunity to apply his firefighting skill set and knowledge in another country.
“I am really excited for the opportunity to travel to Canada and contribute to the firefighting campaign,” Jarod said.
“I expect to learn a great deal, experience different forests and culture whilst helping Canadian communities through a very challenging time.
“I am grateful that FCNSW has provided us this opportunity to represent the business and my community abroad, it is a privilege that I do not take lightly,” he said.
Dave Anderson said it was a great opportunity for Australian fire specialists to repay the Canadian crews that assisted Australia during the Black Saturday bushfire season in 2019/20.
“This will be a great learning experience and the opportunity for us to work with Canadian firefighters again,” Dave said.
“We have employed seasonal staff from Canada for many seasons now and value their work ethic and skills.
“I have deployed within New South Wales and interstate in the past, but never overseas. This is a first for me,” he said.
Vince Bolton has worked with Forestry Corporation for 11 years and has worked on the ground leading crews in many different fire situations including the North Coast’s 2019/20 bushfire emergency.
“I am looking forward to using the skills I have learnt over the years to help out in Canada,” Vince said.
“Some of the challenges will be adapting to working in native conifer forests unlike our eucalyptus forests in Australia with different fire behaviour, working in very remote locations and lots of hand tool work. Long days and hard work ahead,” he said.
For East Timor veteran Matt Model, the Canadian deployment follows closely on the back of his return from the United Kingdom where he represented Australia at the World Military Rowing Competition.
Matt, an Invictus Games champion, won three gold medals for Australia in the 500m, 1km and 2km rowing events for competitors aged 30 to 39 years.
From representing Australia on the oars, he’ll do his country proud on the Canadian firefronts where crews are battling 416 uncontained fires.
“I had only just landed in Sydney last Wednesday from the UK and had a message from the fire branch that a second deployment to Canada was happening and I jumped at the chance,” Matt said.
“We will fly out for Canada on Wednesday after attending a briefing with the RFS in Sydney on Tuesday learning more about the current fire situation in Alberta.
“I think the wildfires in Canada will present a lot of challenges and different dynamics to the way we fight fires here in Australia.
“I’ve heard from some of our guys over there already that it involves a lot of arduous activity.
“Heaps of dry firefighting with hand tools and strenuous activity on foot in elevated terrain eight to 12 hours a day.”
Australian crews are currently assisting Canadian fire authorities to battle 416 uncontained fires.
Forestry Corporation’s fire specialists will undertake a 42-day deployment in Canada.
