Two of our volunteer firefighters have answered the call from Canada as the country endures its worst wildfire season on record.
West Gidgegannup Volunteer Bush Fire Brigade’s Joshua Cesery-Hopkins and West Swan VBFB’s Adam Green (pictured above) will join the frontline in the province of Alberta.
Thousands of fires have charred more than nine million hectares across Canada in the past three months, with hundreds of blazes still burning out-of-control.
Mr Green has battled some of WA’s worst fires in recent years, including at Wooroloo, Bridgetown, Donnybrook and Yanchep.
He also deployed to Central Queensland when bushfires tore across 1.4 million hectares of the State in 2018.
He said the Canadian firefighters would be fatigued and missing their families.
“That’s the firefighter brotherhood and sisterhood – when someone calls, we go and help out,” he said.
“Canadians have come out to help Australia many times.”
The WA contingent at Perth Airport.
A father of two young daughters, Mr Green works as a heavy duty tyre fitter at FMG’s Christmas Creek mine in the Pilbara.
He is expecting to spend four weeks on the fire ground in Alberta before coming home.
The deployment will give him new skills, with the remote environment restricting the equipment the firefighters can use.
“In the City of Swan we’re used to more urban firefighting and environments where you can pump water out of a truck and the water’s not that far away,” he said.
“This will be hand tools, chainsaws and portable fire pumps.”
Mr Green and Mr Cesery-Hopkins are among 29 West Australians in the State’s second deployment to Canada since May.
