DRYDEN, Ont. — The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry is deploying about 20 specialized staff to the fire-ravaged state of Oregon.
The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) says the MNRF contingent is among a group of 40 to 50 overhead personnel from Canada, including supervisors and technical experts, scheduled to arrive in the U.S. Pacific Northwest by Friday.
The Ontario crew will be assigned to the huge Holiday Farm fire near the city of Redmond.
They are from ministry bases across Northern Ontario, including Thunder Bay, Dryden, Sioux Lookout and Kenora.
No MNRF firefighters are included in the deployment, but 230 firefighters from B.C. and Alberta will leave for the U.S. on Friday.
A ministry spokesperson said one of the staff en route to Oregon is a COVID-19 co-ordinator, responsible for ensuring protocols are followed to prevent the spread of the virus.
The MNRF group is expected to remain in the US for 14 to 19 days.
The CIFFC said the request for assistance came from the U.S. National Interagency Co-ordination Center, which asked for help fighting fires on federal land in Oregon and northern California.
Two weeks ago, 60 firefighters from Quebec were deployed to California.
