23 DEC 2019: Sixty-nine Canadians are giving up their holidays at home to join the battle for the first time against the deadly wildfires devastating vast tracts of several Australian states. New South Wales is in a seven-day state of emergency, with around 2,000 firefighters battling 100 wildfires.
“Catastrophic fire conditions are as bad as it gets,” New South Wales Rural Fire Services Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons told reporters. “Given we have a landscape with so much active fire burning, you have a recipe for very serious concern and a very dangerous day.”
Areas in western Sydney were forecast to hit 47 degrees Celsius (115 Fahrenheit). Cooler air was expected to move through New South Wales late Saturday, although authorities warned that strong winds could push fires in dangerous new directions.
The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre says a contingent of 21 highly trained staff from a variety of agencies left Canada on Dec. 3, for a 38 day deployment in New South Wales after the centre received an official request for assistance.
On Dec. 19 a second group of 30 Canadians was sent in for a 38 day deployment in the fire zone, and a further 18 are leaving on Dec. 30 for about a month.
Kim Connors, the executive director of the Winnipeg based CIFFC, says that Canada has called on Australian firefighters four times since 2015, and the “agreements are reciprocal in nature so it was the first time that Australia has needed help from Canada.”
“Our Canadian firefighters and their families have volunteered their time to be away for the holidays, which is different for the northern hemisphere to be dealing with wildland fires over Christmas and New Year’s so we’re very proud of them for doing that,” he said in an interview.
The CIFFC says crews from Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, Yukon, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C. are assisting with a variety of tasks including roles in command, aviation, planning, logistics and operations.
“So they’re not on the front line, they’re in the overall management of the fires,” said Connors.
“They’ve been in a period of drought for quite a long period and it’s not a very good situation down there and obviously their summer is just started as our winter starts.”
Record high temperatures and strong southerly winds are fanning more than 100 fires in New South Wales alone.
Two volunteer firefighters have been killed and dozens of homes have been lost since Thursday in the massive fires, including the Gospers Mountain blaze, which covered more than 460,000 hectares.
Prime Minister apologises
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison apologized Sunday for taking a family vacation in Hawaii as deadly bushfires raged across several states, destroying homes and claiming the lives of two volunteer firefighters.
Morrison cut short a vacation with his wife and adult children amid public anger at his absence during a national crisis, and arrived home Saturday night. He spoke to reporters Sunday morning while visiting the headquarters of the Rural Fire Service in Sydney.
“If you had your time over again and you had the benefit of hindsight, we would have made different decisions,” Morrison said. “I am sure Australians are fair-minded and understand that when you make a promise to your kids you try and keep it.”
“But as prime minister, you have other responsibilities, and I accept that and I accept the criticism,” he added.
Morrison also answered critics who say his government has not done enough to fight climate change, which has been cited as a major factor in the spate of fires burning across the states of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. He said there were also “many other factors” responsible for the unprecedented number of fires during a record-breaking heat wave.