Due to elevated wildfire activity in British Columbia, the Wildfire Management Branch has requested the assistance of over 70 out-of-province personnel to aid in fire suppression efforts.

One Type 1 Incident Management Team from Alberta, consisting of 14 personnel, arrived in B.C. on July 14, 2014, and has since been deployed to the Red Deer Creek fire located about 61 kilometres southeast of Tumbler Ridge.

Today, 55 additional personnel will arrive from Ontario, Nova Scotia and Quebec. They comprise two Type 1 Incident Management Teams, one Type 2 Incident Management Team and other single resources.

These requests for assistance are in addition to the 21 personnel from Ontario that arrived in B.C. on Sunday, July 13, 2014.

All of these out-of-province personnel will provide command and co-ordination support to fire crews on the ground. There are no out-of-province firefighters in B.C. at this time.

These requests for assistance were made through the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, which co-ordinates the mutual sharing of firefighting resources between B.C. and other jurisdictions. Costs associated with these requests will be covered by B.C. under the Mutual Aid Resources Sharing Agreement, which allows for the movement of firefighting resources throughout Canada.

Hot and dry weather conditions have elevated the fire danger rating throughout the province and most of B.C. is currently experiencing a “high” to “extreme” fire danger rating. Forest fuels are very receptive to ignition and firefighting crews are on standby in all six of B.C.’s fire centres in preparation for increased fire starts.