Northern Ontario well represented in BC firefighting effort

Ontario Fire Fighters from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry are well represented in fire management efforts in British Columbia.

Fire information officer Shayne McCool says the information is changing every day as crews return home after fighting fires over two weeks and they’re replaced by other crews.

McCool says firefighters in the north are a major part of the 537 ministry staff that are supporting BC efforts.

He says the firefighters are from throughout the north including North Bay, Sudbury, Kenora, Thunder Bay, Fort Frances and Timmins.

Despite having fewer staff for this period McCool says it will not impact their ability to fight fires in Ontario.

He says they’re also working with the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre and they have firefighters from Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin working with the Ontario crews in BC.

McCool says they are supporting BC in other ways as well by providing BC with 10,000 lengths of hose, 2 structural protection units and over 200 pump kits.