A major step in the fight against wildfires
The Government of Canada has announced an increase in funding for firefighter training.
Canada's unprecedented wildfire season continues, and according to forecast, is still quite far from over. The Canadian government recognizes that at such a time, it is important to provide support to those affected by fire, as well as to strengthen the country's preparedness for wildfires, which are unlikely to cease to be a seasonal phenomenon in the coming years.
Late last week, new Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson, along with the Minister responsible for the Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada and Minister of Emergency Preparedness Harjit Sajjan, announced that the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) will receive an investment of CAD 400,000. This is only the first phase of funding for the Fighting and Managing Wildfires in a Changing Climate — Training Fund program. This investment is to go towards a pilot project to build capacity to fight wildfires and improve training best practices.
These funds will be used to implement the IAFF's Responding to the Interface program, which will provide specialized training to firefighters, enhancing their skills and capabilities. This training will help better prepare firefighters and equip them to fight wildfires, especially in the wildland urban interface, where it has traditionally been particularly difficult to control fire risk.
As part of this project, IAFF will train 25 instructors in Kamloops, British Columbia, on how to deliver consistent and effective wildfire response training methodology of the Cadre Building program. IAFF will also conduct 15 courses in five different locations in Western Canada, training up to 325 firefighters to respond to urban fires.
More than 10% of Canadians live in wildland urban interface. This is an area of 32 million hectares across the country. In this area, urban settlements are juxtaposed with areas at high risk of fire, such as forests. These areas are a priority in Canada's fight against wildfires. Fires in wildland urban interface pose the greatest threat to the lives and property of many Canadians. Even if such fires are quickly contained, they can still have devastating effects on communities, such as the spread of thick smoke or the evacuation of residents, which can be stressful for many.
This project, which complements the Government of Canada's plans to train 1,000 new firefighters over the next 5 years, will help identify best practices and recommendations for future training of wildland firefighters ahead of the second phase of the Training Foundation, set to launch next year.
This initiative is one of the actions the Government is taking to combat forest fires. Others include Minister Wilkinson's announcement of funding to train 300 Indigenous firefighters and 125 Indigenous fire guardians, the government's Fighting and Managing Wildfires in a Changing Climate — Equipment Fund program that helps provinces and territories purchase needed equipment, a long-term investment in WildFireSat, a satellite system that will enable fire forecasting, and more.
