State fire officials said they will soon begin discussions to send assets to help battle the Canadian wildfires. The state said until recently, it has had to keep resources close because conditions have been so dry in Michigan.
Jennifer Myslivy is the public affairs specialist for the Bureau of Land Management and Fire at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho. She spoke with Tina Sawyer about the fires:
Tina: Can you give us an update as to how big this wildfire is at the moment?
JM: So there's multiple wildfires across Canada, Alberta, British Columbia, Quebec. So there's not one specific wildfire that's burning. There's ones with incident management teams on them. There's ones that have local fire resources on them. So they range for example, could be five acres to 5000 acres to 10,000 acre. So across the board, it's different across Canada.
Tina: What kind of a task is it to actually tackle something like this? Has this ever happened before?
JM: We've assisted Canada with other fires, not this large of scale across the entire country. So the United States has four international arrangements, one with Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Mexico. And we provide resources to them. And they provide resources to us when we're in high fire or extreme fire activity.
Tina: How many people do you send up there then?
JM: So far, as of May 8, we've had approximately 1300 personnel that has gone up to support Canada, 41 interagency hotshot crews, 11 type two crews, 11 incident management teams, 92 smokejumpers, and some timber spotters, and then 90 individual overhead, which could be communications , heavy equipment operators. So since the first of May, we've had close to 1400 personnel support Canada, and they go on to week or 14 Day rotations. And so when their 14 days are up, they may be extended to 21 days, then they come back to the US and then replace one for one to one crew comes down, Canada's been requesting additional resources, so then we'll replace them. And we'll continue doing that until they don't request anymore or until parts of our western fire season pick up and we have to kind of find a medium where we can support and then support ourselves to.
Tina: Now, have we lost any lives unfortunately, or is everybody safe so far there?
JM: Yeah, there's not been any that we have from the US. And that we've heard of so zero. So that's a great number to have. A lot of times weather it actually helps us. So in Alberta, where the initial fires started, they're getting rain. And so some of the rain is helping but then some areas aren't getting rain. And so they're out of control. And so but we're assisting with and it's not just the US... we have other countries New Zealand, Mexico since and South Africa sending resource, so a ton of resources are assisting Canada in these fires, some of these fires are burning out in open areas, and so they're trying to utilize already existing landscapes and areas to help put the fire out and not put people in harm's way. So it does take a large group of people to try to work on those and come up with a good strategic safe strategy to put those fires out there. Sometimes it's mother nature that helps us bring it in the rain.
Tina: Is there a danger or talk of even a danger of it kind of skipping over to the US and you know, getting so out of control that it would burn here?
JM: I have not heard of anything. And that has not been a cause of concern in the the discussions that I've been in here at the National Office. Yeah.
Tina: Any final advice for those who are out camping this weekend?
JM: Just be just be careful. I mean, we are we have a big thing called recreate responsibly, think about where you’re parking I mean, it may be green, but there's some areas that you just pull over and you parked in your undercarriage of your vehicle is so hot that they get those dry grasses. You know, clearly extinguish your campfire. You know, when you're heading out. Make sure your safety chains on your trailer or your boat are secure. Those chains can skip on the rocks and have sparks and so just be heads up and then obviously fireworks.... just be safe with fireworks have safe and sane fireworks or go to a public show but just Just be careful. Just enjoy public lands this weekend but obviously have fire safety in the back of your mind.
Tina: Great really great information. Jennifer appreciate your time.
JM: You’re welcome, have a great day!
