Quebec sends sixty forest firefighters to California

Quebec sends sixty forest firefighters to California

In a press release sent by the Société de protection des forêts contre le feu (SOPFEU), Quebec is sending sixty forest firefighters to California, who are facing a difficult forest fire season.

This initiative is in collaboration with the ministère des Forêts, de la Faune et des Parcs (MFFP). Three squads of 20 forest firefighters as well as three agency representatives will participate in a resource deployment coordinated by the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center (CIFFC). The teams will travel to northern California to fight active fires in the Plumas National Forest.

The firefighters’ departure for California is scheduled for Wednesday, September 2, 2020. Once there, they will carry out a 14-day work cycle. All the health protocols put in place by the US Forest Service due to the pandemic have been validated by SOPFEU. A representative from Quebec also visited the site a few days ago to observe the application of the measures deployed by the American authorities.

Tankers in Los Angeles

SOPFEU also points out that two CL-415 type tank planes and their crews also left Quebec on August 29, bound for California for a 90-day mission. This loan of resources is made possible by a contractual agreement between the Government of Quebec and the County of Los Angeles for more than 25 years.