UPPER MICHIGAN (WLUC) – The wildfires in Canada are still ongoing and a fire management company is providing the latest details.
As of right now, the Canadian fires have burned over seven million hectares, or 17 million acres, which is the size of the state of Virginia. The largest fire at the moment is the Shoe Fire, located in Saskatchewan.
That’s according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center. CIFFC Associate Director of Operations Mike McCulley says the country is fighting its hardest to fight these fires.
“It has caused a lot of challenge and a lot of need for us to bring in resources from outside of our own country,” McCulley said. “Our domestic capacity right now is spread very thin. Obviously, we’ve done what we can to move the right people to the right fires in the right provinces.”
To help fight the fires, there is a coalition between neighboring provinces like Manitoba and Saskatchewan with Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. The purpose is to share resources like hoses and personnel on a case-by-case basis.
Michigan DNR Fire Management Specialist Keith Murphy says Michigan has sent at least 15 people to Manitoba to help with fires.
“A few weeks ago, we sent four folks from the Upper Peninsula way up in Northern Manitoba,” Murphy said. “Currently, there’s just one person up in Manitoba now and those are interagency crews.”
Murphy says this relationship is vital as Canada also could send resources to the U.P. if the need arises. He adds there is still a chance more people from the U.P. could be sent to Manitoba.
“I could see a request coming again to send more folks,” Murphy said. “We have been shipping folks out to the western U.S. states, but we always try to fulfill our compact needs first. If they call for us, we’ll try and get more people gathered.”
McCulley says CIFFC and Canada are doing their best to put the fires out to keep everyone safe.
Back here at home, Murphy says he expects the U.P. to still see some effects from the smoke in the near future.
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