Beginning Wednesday, Montana firefighting teams will be going north to help Canadian crews battle wildfires in that country.
Eighty members of the Bitterroot Hotshots, Helena Hotshots and Flathead Hotshots—which includes firefighters from around central and western Montana—will be deployed to Alberta for 14 days, the Northern Rockies Coordination Center told KTVH-TV. At least four massive wildfires are currently burning in the province, displacing more than 10,000 residents and affecting hundreds of thousands of acres.
Although they don't know where in Alberta they'll be sent or what they'll be doing yet, the assisting firefighters are eager to help their northern colleagues any way they can.
"You spend a lot of time preparing over the winter, so this is the first assignment for the season. And at this point in the game, we’re kind of chomping at the bit ready to go out the door and do some work," Tighe Stoyanoff, assistant superintendent for the Helena Hotshots, told KTVH.
So far, around 2,300 firefighters are battling the wildfires, and the largest is the Chuckegg Creek Fire, which is affecting more than 690,000 acres outside of High Level.
