Over 100 Mexican Firefighters Have Been Deployed to Help Battle Wildfires in Ontario
More than 100 Mexican firefighters have arrived in Ontario, the first round of international support to help battle the raging wildfires in the province this season.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry says the firefighters arrived on Monday afternoon in Thunder Bay, with 52 wildland fires continuing to burn around the province – 19 of which are not yet under control.
The international support comes as 1,910 firefighters have been deployed across Canada this season, part of the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) and it’s member agency additional resource-sharing agreements with the United States, Australia, Mexico, New Zealand and Costa Rica.
The agreement allows a province or country to request CIFFC for equipment to fight fire at the ground level, aircraft assistance, incident management teams or for fire personnel and seek support from international partners.
Currently across Quebec and Alberta, international support from the United States, Spain, Portugal, France, South Africa, Chile, Costa Rica, New Zealand and Australia have been deployed to help fight the flames.
The ministry says the Mexican firefighters are waiting on a provincial briefing before being assigned to fires in the northwest and northeast regions of Ontario.
