P.E.I. firefighters return from 'black and ash' of Fort McMurray

A team of P.E.I. firefighters is back on the Island after two weeks of working on the wildfire in Fort McMurray.

• Island firefighters in Fort Mac expected home this weekend

Nick Thompson was part of a team of 17 six from P.E.I. and 11 from Newfoundland that worked in the area already passed over by the fire, putting out hotspots to ensure no fire sprang up again.

"We worked in the black and ash all day long," said Thompson.

"You're always dirty. You're always working in the ash and there's clouds of smoke coming up at you all the time."

Thompson and the team were in the field at least 13 hours most day, walking a grid pattern to make sure they didn't miss anything.

The work was difficult, he said, but worth it.

'An opportunity to help'

"It was just an opportunity to help," he said.

"On P.E.I. we don't get these big fires so whenever we can help out other provinces we like to try."

Some firefighters travelled much further than from P.E.I. and Newfoundland to fight the fire.

It's not as simple as you might think to get firefighters to come from another country.- Edwin Gillis

There were more than 200 Americans, 300 South Africans, and 41 Mexicans working the blaze.

Edwin Gillis, western district provincial forest supervisor for P.E.I., did his part by helping to co-ordinate the hundreds of firefighters who came from other countries.

Gillis worked for two weeks at the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre in Winnipeg, and spent a lot of time working with the Mexican contingent.

Back to work

"They required passports and visas and those sorts of things," he said.

"It's not as simple as you might think to get firefighters to come from another country. There's a lot of paperwork involved."

Issues around insurance and workers' compensation also had to be worked out with the Mexican firefighters.

"The U.S. has a specific agreement with Canada, Mexico not so much, so we had to work through that," he said.

Gillis said there were representatives from New Zealand and Australia in Winnipeg, and those countries were preparing to send firefighters, but that became unnecessary as the weather improved.

The P.E.I. contingent returned to the Island on Saturday, with everyone back to work in their regular jobs Monday morning.

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