NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) spokesman James Morris said Simon May, Nick Turner, Ailish Pope and Tracey Anderson flew out on the morning of July 19 with 11 others from around the state.

He said firefighter May was likely to be camped out for 42 days in a remote area of the province, coordinating airborne firefighting efforts.

From a helicopter or other aircraft, he would coordinate water or retardant bombing as the western province attempts to contain widespread fires.

“It is a really full-on role,” Mr Morris said.

A state of emergency was declared on July 7 in the province and Canada firefighters appealed for international help, especially from firefighters with specialist skills. 

Mr Turner is the regional operations manager and will help plan the effort. Ms Anderson is a business officer and will plan finance and logistics. Ms Pope analyses fire behaviour and will predict the movement of wildfire.

Mr Morris said it was good to give back.

“The Australian Government has 48 fire managers and specialists deployed for 42 days across British Columbia (BC),” Mr Morris said.

“Often we require international support during some of our major bush fires.

“In some significant fire seasons, we have sought assistance from Canada and the wider BC area.

“The members from Batemans Bay who put their hands up had specialist qualifications, including from aviation specialists, through to planning and finance.

“A lot of the positions are within incident management teams away from the fire ground.”

However, they were no less needed as Canadian crews feel the toll of a bad month – with more to come.

“They still have not got to some of their worst days,” Mr Morris warned.

“They are looking at significantly bad fire weather.”

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