While Slave Lake residents in northern Alberta, Canada, are getting out of town due to the out-of-control catastrophic wildfire, eighty Ontario FireRangers will be coming to Slave Lake this afternoon to assist Alberta in combating a forest fire that is devastating the Slave Lake town.
Please note that Ontario will assess its ability to provide additional fire-fighting resources as the fire situation evolves in Alberta.
Hopefully the strong winds, gusting up to 100 kilometres per hour, will diminish significantly very soon and the Ontario FireRangers can put out this horrific fire!
Our hearts go out to the people of Slave Lake, Alberta!
Ontario, Canada: Newsroom
News Release
Ontario Provides Forest Fire Fighting Assistance
May 16, 2011
Ontario FireRangers Deployed to Alberta
Ontario is deploying fire-fighting crews to Slave Lake to assist Alberta in combating a forest fire that is devastating the northern town.
Eighty FireRangers will be dispatched on the morning of Tuesday, May 17, and are expected to arrive in Alberta later that afternoon.
Strong winds gusting up to 100 kilometres per hour have fuelled the wildfire that has destroyed hundred of homes, churches and businesses and forced many of the town’s residents to leave the community.
Ontario will assess its ability to provide additional fire-fighting resources as the fire situation evolves in Alberta. Ontario is part of the national forest fire mutual support system coordinated by Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre in Winnipeg.
QUOTES
“My thoughts are with the people of Slave Lake whose lives are deeply impacted by this catastrophic fire. Ontario is pleased to offer the assistance of our forest fire-fighting crews to help address the fire situation in northern Alberta.”
– Linda Jeffrey
Minister of Natural Resources
QUICK FACTS
- The province has approximately 800 highly-trained firefighters and a further 320 firefighters available from the private sector to fight forest fires in Ontario.
- Our forest firefighting program has $25 million of fire suppression equipment, 14 water bombers, 13 helicopters and 12 fire detection aircraft.
- Last year, as part of mutual support arrangements across the country, 750 Ontario staff provided 10,000 days to help British Columbia with its difficult fire season between July and September – the third largest deployment of resources in Ontario’s history.