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7 Fort McMurray firefighters in Montana and Oregon battling wildfires

Because of the low wildfire hazard across the province aka, not a lot of action, four Fort McMurray firefighters are Montana, and three are in Oregon helping fight fires down there.

Environment and Sustainable Resource Development’s Laura Brandon says it’s a change from 2 years ago when the department imported resources to fight a fire here that was bigger than P.E.I.

“The Richardson Wildfire was over 577,000 hectares, that burned for months and months, and so now in 2013 we’re able to export those resources.”

Brandon says, “we still have substantial resources here to help fight any wildfires that do start, and the resources that we’ve sent, can be called back if the need arises.”

She says the department is now the Forestry and Emergency Response Division and also helped sandbag and evacuate people during the recent floods.

“This is just a great opportunity to share our resources locally as well with other parts of the world.”
In total, 56 Albertan firefighters are in Montana, Idaho and Oregon as well as some of Alberta’s planes and heavy equipment.

August 27th, 2013