Taking on Canada’s ‘super scale’ bushfires

As far as inaugural OEs go, this is a fairly dramatic one.

Father-and-son firefighters Mark and Kyle Wilson have winged their way out of the country for the first time this week to join the international crews that are fighting the bush fires ripping through parts of Canada.

Mark is the Tasman rural fire brigade’s fire chief and has been on the brigade for 10 years, while Kyle joined eight years ago – as soon as he turned 16 – and is now a crew leader.

The deployments are coveted experiences, and Mark reckons that about 500 firefighters have put their hands up throughout the country to go into the ballet for these 21 spots.

The pair are part of a group of 21 firefighting personnel from Aotearoa who left this week for Alberta, Canada.

The contingent is made up of four five-person arduous firefighting crews, including five personnel from the Department of Conservation (DOC), and a liaison.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand national commander Russell Wood says the second contingent is being deployed in addition to the seven specialist personnel who landed in British Columbia last week.

“We know that this second contingent will deploy for approximately five weeks. They’ll be firefighting in tough conditions, working hard to keep the communities of Alberta safe,” he says.

The appeal is the experience they would gain, Mark says.

“We’re never every going to see anything like that around here. Their little fires over there make Pigeon Valley look like a spot fire.”

He says that in New Zealand, our monsoon buckets hold 1000 litres of water, but in Canada, they’re 10 times bigger.

“Everything’s just super scale.”

Although there would be stark differences to being on the ground in Canada, Kyle says that New Zealand’s firefighting systems are based off Canadian ones,  just adapted for our landscapes.

Firefighters need to have had experience fighting a major fire – that is, one that required out-of-area assistance, such as Pigeon Valley, or Christchurch’s Port Hills blazes – before they are eligible to put their names down for an international deployment.

The Wilsons’ preparation included fitness and medical tests and “lots of paperwork”, Mark reckons, as well as having their unminted passports at the ready.

They flew to Auckland on Monday afternoon for a briefing, and headed onwards to Canada on Tuesday evening. Kyle says that the schedule on the ground was 14 days on, two days off and another 14 on, before returning home. They would be giving the existing crews a reprieve and a chance to see their families.

Both men wanted to acknowledge their workplaces – and those of all firefighters – in allowing them to take the time off to be active members of the brigade.

“It’s not just a big commitment for us – it’s the workplaces as well,” says Mark, who works for Motueka Contracting. Kyle is employed by the Motueka Recreation Centre.