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Wildfires continue to tear through parts of Los Angeles, causing mass evacuations, destroying thousands of homes, and claiming the lives of at least 25 people.
One of the people watching the blazes unfold is La Ronge Fire Base Supervisor Avery Legare, who says that in all his years of firefighting, he has never seen anything like it.
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“What I’m seeing down in California, it’s pretty heartbreaking and tough to watch — you’ve got men and women out there that are working around the clock to try to contain these fires and are doing really good work. But the conditions just aren’t in their favour right now,” said Legare.
He explained that when it comes to a rural fire and a fire burning close to an urban environment, the differences are practically night and day. He said that an urban fire can bring a lot more variables into the fight.
“There’s a lot more you’re dealing with — the smoke is different, there are toxins in the smoke, you’re dealing with power lines, and it’s a lot more of a challenge than it is just fighting one out in the bush,” said Legare.
To help combat the California flames, fire crews and equipment from all across the country are either being inventoried or are currently shipping out to the Golden State to help in any way they can.
After getting a request for help from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, the Government of Saskatchewan said on Tuesday that it has offered to send a birddog aircraft, 10 firefighters and 3000 lengths of 100 ft hose to California.
Emergency Preparedness Minister Harjit Sajjan recently said that dozens of firefighters from both Alberta and British Columbia will be taking part in the fight, with the federal government coordinating with other provinces to deploy resources.
Large-scale fire fights need combination of things
But while more boots on the ground and resources on location can be a massive help, Legare says that to extinguish a large-scale fire, firefighters need a combination of things.
“You need Mother Nature to cooperate with you, and get some rain and cooler temperatures to slow things down. Boots on the ground, (and) you have to remove the fuel source ahead of the fire. There’s a lot at play when you’re dealing with big fires like that, and ultimately, it’s going to be your men and women on the ground putting them out,” said Legare.
When it comes to the likelihood of a fire of the scale seen in Los Angeles threatening Saskatchewan, Legare said that it’s possible, but crews will be ready and waiting.
“We’re as ready as we can be. We’re constantly training, even throughout the winter,” he said.
“There are different training courses that we’ll bring guys back in for, and we’ll do all our start-up training in the spring. So we’re always ready, but I’ve never encountered anything like what they’re dealing with. And hopefully we never have to, but we’ll be as ready as we can be,” said Legare.
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