Nearly 350 EU firefighters will help fight brutal Canadian wildfires

A battalion of nearly 350 European Union firefighters will soon be on the scene in Quebec to help their Canadian counterparts fight a devastating and unprecedented wildfire season.

One hundred and nine firefighters from France arrived last Thursday and spent the weekend dousing flames in Quebec, where fires have forced nearly 14,000 people to flee their homes.

Another 140 reinforcements from Portugal and 97 from Spain will arrive in Quebec City on Wednesday, said Claire Kowalewski, the liaison officer for the European Union Emergency Response Coordination Center in Canada.

It’s the first time in the center’s 22-year history that it has sent firefighters to help in Canada, Kowalewski said.

“There is a solidarity,” she said. “Today, unfortunately, it is Canada that is facing these terrible fires. But last year in Spain was also a terrible year.”

The firefighters understand each other even if they don’t speak the same language or use the same techniques, Kowalewski said, adding, “Ultimately, they have the same objectives.”

Canadian officials have described the destruction of this year’s wildfire season as “unprecedented”. Nearly 430 wildfires raged across the country on Sunday, with 210 of them out of control, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center.

There have been widespread evacuations, with more than 100,000 people in nine provinces and territories forced from their homes as the rapidly spreading flames approached.

Officials say the warm, dry conditions fueling the fires are expected to prevail throughout the summer in nearly every province and territory.

Kowalewski is a fire officer in France and was seconded to work at the EU Emergency Coordination Centre. She is temporarily stationed at the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center in Winnipeg, where she oversees all logistics for the European firefighters. There are agents from other countries who have joined in to help, including Costa Rica and South Africa, she said.

Canada made an official request for assistance last Wednesday, triggering the EU’s civil protection mechanism, she said. That call for help went out to 36 different member jurisdictions. In response, the firefighters from France, Portugal and Spain all volunteered to help.

Wildfire season has not yet begun in their state, and firefighters saw an opportunity to help across the Atlantic, Kowalewski said.

“They’re really proud to come here,” she said. They stay until they are no longer needed, or until they are needed back in Europe.

She said she and all French firefighters have felt welcome so far. “The firefighters say that the relationship with their Canadian colleagues is very good and, in fact, everything is going well,” she said.

That sentiment was shared by authorities in Quebec on Sunday. Maïté Blanchette Vézina, the province’s natural resources minister, told reporters that firefighters had begun attacking a blaze that threatened Obedjiwan’s Atikamekw community, rather than simply responding to it. That was thanks to the help of firefighters from other jurisdictions, including the team from France, she said.

Kowalewski was glad to hear that. “I hope the Portuguese and Spaniards will also bring a lot of support,” she said.