CAF Send Reconnaissance Support to BC Wild Fires

By: Simon Little, Global News - CKNW 

Canadian Forces aircraft are on their way to British Columbia to assist with the province’s out of control wildfires.

Federal Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said Sunday that Ottawa had received and approved a request for help battling the hundreds of wildfires that have prompted a state of emergency in the province.

Chris Duffy, executive director of Emergency Management BC, said three Griffon helicopters are due in Kelowna Sunday afternoon, and that several fixed wing aircraft are due later this week.

“The Canada Forces assets are a resource of last resort,” Duffy said.

BC Wildfire crews will be prioritizing the use of provincial assets, but the military aircraft will be available for requests from the BC Wildfire Service, he said.

“From a readiness stance they would consider it ‘forward leaning.’ So the helicopters that will go into Kelowna, they will be on standby and ready to support provincial efforts, whatever that ask may be.”

Duffy said the aircraft will not be pressed into immediate fire suppression efforts, though could be called on in that capacity by the province if needed.

However, aside from a half-dozen reconnaissance and liaison staff, no Canadian Forces ground troops are currently expected.

Chief fire information officer Kevin Skrepnek said the last time soldiers were called on to help fight fires on the ground in B.C. was in 2003.

“At this point we would first utilize our partner agencies from around Canada for trained wildfire staff before we would turn to support from the armed forces in terms of a front line fire suppression role,” he said.

Skrepnek said in order to trigger a request for ground forces, wildfire problems in other provinces would have to grow to the point where other fire services could no longer spare staff.

Additional Details by David Pugliese, Defence Watch 

A C-17 Globemaster, a C-130J Hercules, two CH-147F Chinooks, and three CH-146 Griffons are being sent by the Canadian military to support crews fighting wildfires in British Columbia. The government in British Columbia requested help from the federal government in the form of RCAF aircraft to conduct a variety of tasks. Those include assisting with the evacuation of the local population affected by the wildfires and assisting the ground operations by providing airlift capacities for first responders and equipment, according to the Canadian Forces.

CAF Begins to Scale Back New Brunswick ice-storm assistance

By: Dabid Pugliese, Defence Watch 

The Canadian military says it is continuing to provide assistance to New Brunswick’s relief efforts in some of the hardest hit parts of the Acadian Peninsula from the recent storm but it will begin to draw-down the military presence in those areas where the province has announced remaining relief efforts are within provincial and municipal capabilities. The remaining military members will be gradually returned to home units as conditions improve in these remaining communities, it added in a news release.

On January 27, the Province of New Brunswick first requested military assistance to conduct a reconnaissance to determine how the Canadian Forces could support relief efforts. The first troops arrived within 24 hours, the military noted in its release.

In a second request for assistance on January 29, the Province of New Brunswick requested federal government assistance in the form of military personnel and assets to conduct a variety of tasks, including delivering emergency supplies, assisting in re-establishing existing road networks, and supporting door-to-door residential wellbeing checks in the northeast of the province.

Here are more details from the news release:

More than 200 CAF members from 5 Canadian Division Support Base (Gagetown) including 4 Artillery Regiment General Support and 4 Engineering Support Regiment, and 37 Canadian Brigade Group (Moncton) deployed to support the Province of New Brunswick response efforts.

A CP-140 Aurora Maritime Patrol Aircraft based at 14 Wing Greenwood conducted an overflight to map and determine the extent of damage to infrastructure in the area. A CH-146 Griffon based at 403 Tactical Helicopter Squadron in Gagetown was used primarily for air transport.

In total, the CAF conducted over 5,400 door-to-door checks, assisted the Province in distributing generators, fuel, firewood and water, and surveyed more than 1,100 km of roads.