B.C. asks for 1,000 international firefighters to help wildfire fight, in addition to army, coast guard

British Columbia has requested 1,000 additional international firefighters to join the battle against the province's wildfires.

Emergency Management Minister Bowinn Ma says she has also spoken to her counterpart in Ottawa, Bill Blair, about bringing more federal resources to help fight the 350 or so fires burning across B.C.

Ma says a team from Australia is arriving on Saturday, adding to the 160 international personnel from Mexico and the United States currently deployed in B.C. Firefighters from South Korea, France, South Africa and the Dominican Republic have also been fighting fires in Canada, during what is shaping up to bea record-breaking fire season.

Ma says the Australians on the way are an "incident management team.''

Troops ready to go

Bill Blair told The Canadian Press the government operations centre has been in discussions with the province for the last several days, and Ottawa is ready to deploy needed resources as the formal request for help is expected Thursday.

"Thefireseason now is obviously sparking up pretty seriously out there and they have sent us an indication of some additional resources that they will require," he said in an interview Thursday.

WATCH | New fires sparked in northwest B.C.:

Fire threat in B.C.'s northwest grows

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B.C. Wildfire Service crews have been deployed to the Bulkley-Nechako region after lightning sparked dozens of fires over the weekend, prompting new evacuation orders and alerts.

"For the last 48 hours we've been working with Canadian Armed Forces, Parks Canada, Natural Resources Canada, and people from the Canadian Coast Guard,'' said Blair. "There's a lot of different federal departments all mobilizing their response to the requirements of British Columbia.''

He said the federal help could include military assistance for airlift evacuations from remote locations, as well as members of the military trained as firefighters who can provide "mop up'' to keep blazes from reigniting once they've been put out.

"If there are communities that become isolated and need to be evacuated, then Canadian Armed Forces provides those resources,'' Blair said.

The Canadian Coast Guard is also mobilizing support for affected coastal communities and Natural Resources Canada staff with forest management expertise are also preparing to help, he said.

Blair adds there are a number of national parks in B.C., so Parks Canada is ready to aid the province with park firefighters and forest management experts.

Blair says B.C. is one of the better equipped provinces to handle firesbecause it is often among the hardest hit, but any extra help needed is being made available.

Foreign resources needed to relieve local crews

B.C. would welcome all additional firefighters and equipment as hot weather and afternoon lightning storms keep fire conditions extreme and strain resources, said B.C. Wildfire Service spokesman Cliff Chapman on Thursday.

"It is very, very challenging across Canada and across the globe right now to secure additional firefighting capacity,'' he said.

"This is a very dangerous job. With the conditions we are in it makes it all that much more dangerous for our staff who are working 14-, 16-, 20-hour days trying to do everything to move these fires away from critical impacts.''

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Darrin Rigo speaks about the feeling of loss he experienced after seeing a local waterfall trail surrounded by wildfire.

He said in northwest B.C., 51,000 lightning strikes have been recorded over the past seven days and about 160 wildfires are burning. Crews were facing difficult conditions in which daily afternoon lightning storms were starting new fires.

Chapman said more than 2,000 B.C. firefighters are currently battling the flames, but many need rest and the arrival of international help will provide that opportunity.

"We are not short 1,000 firefighters in B.C. at this time,'' he said.

"We are planning ahead, obviously looking into next week, but even looking into the next number of weeks to secure resources so we can rest some of our staff.''

Premier David Eby said earlier this week the province was looking for more firefighting support, particularly air equipment, in its battle against wildfires.

He said forecasts suggest B.C. and Canada face the worstfire season in 100 years.