More than 100 Mexican firefighters have been deployed to help fight wildfires in Ontario

More than 100 Mexican firefighters have arrived in Ontario, the first round of international aid to help fight the province’s raging wildfires this season.

The Department of Natural Resources and Forestry says firefighters arrived in Thunder Bay Monday afternoon, with 52 wildfires continuing to burn in the province – 19 of which are still out of control.

The international support comes as 1,910 firefighters have been deployed across Canada this season, part of the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center (CIFFC) and the additional resource sharing agreements with the United States, Australia, Mexico, New Zealand and Costa Rica.

The agreement allows a province or country to request CIFFC for equipment for ground-level firefighting, aircraft assistance, incident management teams or for firefighting personnel and to seek support from international partners.

Currently, international support from the United States, Spain, Portugal, France, South Africa, Chile, Costa Rica, New Zealand and Australia has been deployed in Quebec and Alberta to fight the flames.

The ministry says Mexico’s firefighters are awaiting a provincial briefing before being assigned to fires in Ontario’s northwestern and northeastern regions.

This report from The Canadian Press was first published on June 20, 2023.

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