The Yukon government will send additional wildland fire staff to Alberta and the Northwest Territories to help manage ongoing wildfire incidents.
According to a May 31 release, a 21-person Wildland Fire Management unit crew and an agency representative were driving to Grande Prairie, Alberta to take part in wildfire operations.
“An ignition specialist and an ignition specialist trainee have also deployed to Sambaa K’e, N.W.T. to provide technical support to a wildfire response,” the release said, adding that the Yukon government maintains a high level of readiness at home while helping other regions facing wildfires. Crews can be recalled within 24 hours if the need arises.
The firefighting resources are provided through the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) Mutual Aid Resource Sharing Agreement, which, along with the Northwest Compact, allows the Yukon to provide and ask to borrow resources such as firefighters and equipment, according to the statement.
Through the agreement, Alberta sent the Yukon a team of dispatchers last year to support wildfire response while the N.W.T. has provided several single resources in recent years.
Later in the summer of 2022, the Yukon also provided a safety officer to Washington through the Northwest Compact.
On May 9, the Yukon government announced it was sending 21 firefighters to respond to the ongoing wildfire situation in Alberta. A donation of $25,000 was also made by the government to the Canadian Red Cross to assist the response.
“We are thinking of everyone who has been forced from their homes, those on evacuation alert and the brave firefighters tackling the intense fire activity across Alberta,” Community Services Minister Richard Mostyn said during the deployment.
The territory’s initial 21-person deployment returned home on May 25.
The statement added that with the most recent round of exports, a total of 65 Yukon staff have been sent to support other provinces and territories in 2023.
More than 30,000 people have been displaced since wildfires in Alberta started this season. There are more than 1,123 firefighters from across Canada and the United States assisting nearly 1,700 firefighters from Alberta Wildfire on the fires.
Contact Patrick Egwu at
patrick.egwu@yukon-news.com