SA firefighters to help in Canada wild fires
Hundreds of South African firefighters have answered the call from Canada to assist in battling raging wild fires in Alberta.
The fires, which have been raging for more than a month, have led to the mass evacuation of the town of Fort McMurrary and the destruction of more than 500 000 hectares of land.
Linton Rensburg from Working On Fire says this is the biggest South African deployment ever, outside of the army to assist a foreign country.
Canadian authorities this weekend sent an international mayday request to them to send 300 fire-fighters from the Working on Fire programme.
"Fortunately, we were in Canada already in July last year when we had 55 firefighters over in the country. In April, we also had a very successful training camp where we started preparing our firefighters for international deployment.
"So our firefighters have been already preparing themselves for the conditions that they will find in Canada," he said.
Rensburg says the group of 301 will be flying out from OR Tambo International Airport on Sunday.
He says the deployment will be a life-changing experience for the team.
"None of them have ever been in an aeroplane before, none of them had been out of the country. These are young men and women from our Working On Fire programme that have been given a work opportunity.
"Their skills have been developed to such an extent that they are now also part of this international firefighting team," he said.
They're expected to be in Canada for at least four weeks.
(Photo: Supplied)