Thirty-four Australian firefighting personnelset to arrive in B-C today

Thirty-four Australian firefighting personnel are set to arrive in B-C today, joining hundreds from Mexico, Quebec, Alberta, Parks Canada and the Canadian Armed Forces as they help battle some 250 wildfires burning across the province.

The B-C government says the group from Australia will include one nine-person incident management team, various specialized leadership roles and technical specialists who will be deployed under the direction of the B-C Wildfire Service.

It says out-of-province personnel are working under strict COVID-19 protocols.

More than 35-hundred people in total are involved in fighting operations across B-C, where the fire danger rating is listed as either high or extreme across swathes of southern Interior, Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island.