South Coast Forestry fire specialists answer the call in Canada

Two NSW South Coast fire specialists have joined two NSW deployments of firefighters now in Canada to help combat raging wildfires affecting the country’s northeast.

Forestry Corporation’s Peter Carstairs of Batemans Bay and Bombala’s Tim Gillespie-Jones are among a team of 31 incident management, aviation, fire behaviour analysts and heavy machinery specialists drawn from across the state to assist their counterparts in Alberta and British Columbia.

Their deployment over the weekend came after AFAC (Australasian Fire Authorities Council), the national council for fire and emergency services received a request for assistance from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre to help contain more than 650 wildfires that have already burnt out more than 1.5 million hectares of Canadian wilderness.

The NSW contingent – coordinated by the NSW Rural Fire Service (RFA) who is sending 20 of its team – also includes five NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service firefighters, two from State Emergency Services and a further two from Forestry Corporation to help relieve Canadian firefighting personnel, who have been battling fires for weeks without rest.

It’s familiar territory for Peter Carstairs of Batemans Bay who deployed to Canada for a month in 2023.

Peter will serve as a safety advisor, knowing exactly what to expect of the Canadian wildfires.

“The fires in British Colombia are particularly dangerous firegrounds,” he said.

“The trees are shallow rooted and burn through quickly. When one tree falls, they fall down in numbers like matchsticks.”

Mr Carstairs said the north of British Colombia had experienced an extremely dry winter, with low levels of snowfall.

“As three weeks of heatwave conditions prevail, the forests are being ignited by dry lightning strikes,” he explained.

He said when the incident management teams arrived from Australia in 2023 it was just in the knick of time.

“The Canadian IMT were so relieved as many were completely exhausted having not had a break on the firegrounds for months. It’s again at that point now,” he said.

Despite his 22 years’ experience as a firefighter in Australia, this will be the first international deployment for Bombala’s Tim Gillespie-Jones, whose career as a forester with Forestry Corporation began in 2005.

He has previously undertaken a host of interstate deployments and has served as a level two incident controller and divisional commander for the past 10 years culminating in numerous declarations across NSW including the Black Summer bushfires.

“I am excited to be part of this deployment. It is my first international deployment, and it will be great heading overseas with Peter Carstairs, who I work closely with here on the South Coast,” Mr Gillespie-Jones said.

“I’m really looking forward to repaying the favour to the Canadian firefighters who assisted our crews during the Border fire and Rockton fire in 2019 and 2020,” he said.

“I worked closely with Canadian firefighters during a large strategic backburn along the Victorian border to protect the softwood plantations of Bondi State Forest. Being able to repay that contribution is a big reason behind my deployment,” he said.

Minister for Regional NSW Tara Moriarty said Forestry Corporation of NSW personnel had specialist skills and extensive firefighting experience and were proud to be involved.

“I’m pleased that our firefighting agencies in NSW, including Forestry Corporation, can work collaboratively locally and assist their counterparts in Canada,” she said.

“Fire really is a universal issue and the skills we have here in Australia for fighting forest fires can be transferred through these overseas deployments.

“My thoughts and best wishes are with the Australian firefighters heading to Canada and those Canadians already on the fire front,” Ms Moriarty said.