Quebec-bound forest firefighters gather at P.G. airport

While the fire situation in B.C. remains uneventful, forests are burning out of control in Ontario and Quebec.

That's prompted a response from the B.C. Wildfire Management Branch, which used Prince George as a mustering station Saturday morning to gather 64 firefighters from northwestern B.C. and Williams Lake to take on a large blaze near Maniwaki, Que.

None of those who left Prince George airport Saturday with their equipment are from the Prince George Fire Centre. An additional 127 firefighters left from Kamloops on Saturday, en route to another fire in Roberval, Que.

A Thursday deployment sent members of the Prince George Firehawks wildfire unit to Timmins, Ont., where fires are still burning out of control. The city of about 43,000 in northeastern Ontario declared a state of emergency on Friday. More than 300 people were evacuated from rural communities, camgrounds, cottages and aboriginal communities.

"I know they are starting to see an increase in fire activity because of the weather, it's been windy and hot there," said provincial fire information officer Alyson Couch. "We sent those crews out [Thursday] and we had another request from the Canadian Interagency Fire Fighting Centre for additional crews because that activity was kicking up again."

A total of 192 firefighting personnel is being sent from B.C. to Quebec. From Kamloops, nine 20-person crews, nine division supervisors and three agency representatives will leave the province today, the second wave of B.C. support to Quebec and the third out-of-province deployment this year.

Winds calmed down on Saturday and rain is in the forecast for the area. The fire, located 30 kilometres west of Timmins, has consumed more than 300 square kilometres.

There are now 402 B.C. firefighters working in Quebec and Ontario, which leaves about 600 left in the province. Costs are shared among a number of provinces through the Mutual Aid Resources Sharing Agreement.

Crews are limited to 14 duty days, with three mandatory days off between those shifts, but can be recalled at any time if the fire situation heats up in B.C. Private crews are also available for contract work, usually for mop-up operations.

A cool wet spring, combined with snow pack levels in most parts of the province that were normal or above normal, has minimized the fire threat in B.C. forests. There were some fires in the Lillooet area two weekends ago, but none of those are still burning.

"The amount rain we see in June, that will give us a better indicator of what kind of fire season we'll see," said Couch.

The province's newest firefighters were trained during two week-long boot camps in April in Chiliwack.