A helicopter buckets water onto smouldering fires outside of Jasper, Alta., on Friday, July 26, 2024. A group of firefighters from the Maritimes is heading to Alberta to assist with the ongoing battle against wildfires that have ravaged the Jasper area. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Amber Bracken
HALIFAX – Firefighters from the Maritimes are heading to Alberta to help battle the wildfires that have ravaged the Jasper area.
Twenty-nine firefighters from Nova Scotia and a team of five from Prince Edward Island will depart from Halifax on Sunday for the western province.
Nova Scotia’s Department of Natural Resources says it sent an incident management team to Alberta on July 24 along with hoses and other equipment.
The department says the latest contingent is the third team from Nova Scotia to be sent to Western Canada this summer.
Officials say P.E.I.’s team is being sent after a group of firefighters returned to the Island from assisting with a fire near High Level, Alta., near the boundary with the Northwest Territories.
Officials in both Maritime provinces say the relatively mild fire conditions at home allow them to spare firefighters and equipment to help in other parts of Canada.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 2, 2024.
