**** Forestry Media Release

Three Nova Scotians Join Canadian Team Helping Fight Australia Wildfires

Three staff from the Department of Lands and Forestry will be departing Wednesday, Jan. 15, to join a Canadian team travelling to Australia to help battle ongoing wildfires.

The three Nova Scotians will fill wildfire management roles critical to frontline operations. This includes incident commander, basecamp manager and planning section chief.

“We have some of the top wildfire fighting expertise in the country available in our department and our staff are ready to support efforts to fight the wildfires burning across Australia,” said Iain Rankin, Minister of Lands and Forestry. “I wish them all safe travels and look forward to welcoming them home safe and sound once their work is done.”

The team of 27 from across Canada will meet in Vancouver and travel together from there to the state of Victoria in Australia.

Quotes:
“We’re happy to be able to help another country in its time of need. Australia has been there for Canada when we needed them on some of our big fires, it feels great to be able to return the favour.”
​ ​ ​ ​ ​ – Paul Schnurr, incident commander, Department of Lands and Forestry

Quick Facts:
— each of the staff members are certified in their areas of expertise and have previously participated in numerous operations across Canada in addition to years of experience in Nova Scotia
— Canada’s efforts to provide support are co-ordinated through the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre
— Nova Scotia recently finalized a reciprocal arrangement that allows participation in the co-ordinated effort