Dozens of Canadian firefighting personnel are heading to Australia to battle the raging wildfires, and much of it is being coordinated here in Winnipeg.
New Brunswick resident Stephen Tulle is spending his holidays working at the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) in Winnipeg, coordinating and deploying firefighting resources from across the country to send aid to Australia.
“I’ve been in the business for 34 years and I’ve made sacrifices for my career, and my family understands that,” said Tulle, who is the national duty officer for the CIFFC.
“It’s for the better of all involved. We need to be there for each other.”
Fifty-one Canadian firefighting personnel have been sent to Australia this month, including three from Manitoba.
Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, Yukon, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, and Parks Canada have also sent firefighters.
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The first group left on Dec. 3 for a 38-day deployment, and are currently working in New South Wales. The second group of 30 people left on Dec. 19, also headed for New South Wales. Most of the staff are in roles ranging from command, aviation and operations to planning, logistics, and fire behavior.
1:48 Australia PM praises ‘extraordinary’ work of firefighters battling wildfires
Two more groups will be leaving Canada on Dec. 30 and Jan. 4, including two more Manitobans, making for a total of 89 Canadians assisting with the wildfire fighting efforts down under.
Many of them are sacrificing holiday time with friends and family to fight the flames.
“That means a lot, and it really is hard for them to pull away at a times like this,” said Dave Schafer, the director of the Manitoba Wildfire Service.
“It just shows the character of the individuals that put public service first, and their families that are supporting them.”
“They’re very humbled yet very happy that they can go and support those people who are in such a situation. Even though it’s a long travel from home, we’ve been in that situation in this country [and] Australia, as well as other countries have [come] and supported us, so they understand what it means to make those sacrifices.”
Australia has provided firefighting resources to Canada four times since 2015, so both Tulle and Schafer say this was a way to reciprocate.
“It’s nice to be able to reciprocate it and provide [at a] time when they’re really in dire straits and looking for that support globally,” said Schafer.
HALIFAX – An energy firm based in Ireland says it is planning to produce aviation fuel using about 700,000 tonnes of wood biomass annually.
Simply Blue Group announced today that construction would begin in 2026 with the bio fuel project expected to be operating by 2029 in Goldboro, N.S., about 165 kilometres northeast of Halifax.
The company says it has secured about 305 hectares of land for development, including 108 hectares previously owned by Pieridae — which had planned to build an LNG plant at the site — and 198 hectares owned by the Municipality of the District of Guysborough.
Based in Cork, Ireland, the company says its aviation fuel performs like conventional jet fuel but reduces greenhouse gases by “approximately 90 per cent.”
Simply Blue says that every year the project will source about 700,000 tonnes of biomass from Wagner Forest NS Ltd. to produce 150,000 tonnes of the fuel.
Tory Rushton, the province’s natural resources minister, issued a statement saying the plant could represent a new market for the province’s forestry sector.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
FREDERICTON – New Brunswick RCMP are disputing claims that the recent shooting death of an Indigenous man in mental distress happened during a police wellness check.
Assistant commissioner DeAnna Hill, commander of the New Brunswick RCMP, says that information is inaccurate.
On Monday, the RCMP said two officers responded to a report of an armed man in mental distress at a home in the Elsipogtog First Nation, where one Mountie shot the man after the other failed to subdue him with a stun gun.
Erin Nauss, director of the Serious Incident Response Team, says she understands the initial interaction on Sunday was not what the RCMP would call a wellness check, but she says the police oversight agency will conduct an investigation to “determine all of the facts.”
Meanwhile, a statement from an Indigenous group that works with the RCMP said they weren’t told about the deadly incident until it was too late, and the group described the Mounties’ initial role at the scene as a wellness check.
As well, New Brunswick Liberal Leader Susan Holt has described what happened as a wellness check gone wrong.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
HALIFAX – RCMP are expected to provide an update today on their investigation into the suspicious disappearance of a 55-year-old Nova Scotia woman.
Esther Jones was reported missing on Labour Day, and the RCMP’s major crime unit is now involved in the case.
According to police, Jones was last seen on Aug. 31 in Kingston, N.S., and family members reported her missing Sept. 2.
Two days later, officers found Jones’s vehicle, a silver 2009 Volkswagen Passat, abandoned in nearby Greenwood, N.S.
Jones is described as five-feet-four with a slim build, and she has brown, greying, shoulder-length hair and hazel eyes.
She may have been wearing a black T-shirt with ties on the shoulders, a black and floral below-the-knee skirt, and sunglasses with mirrored lenses when she was last seen.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
