Campbell River fire chief Thomas Doherty is sending his condolences to the people in fire-ravaged Australia.
Over a five-month period, fires have ripped through almost 8.4 million hectares, the majority of it forests, national parks, and bushland.
The fires have killed at least 25 people, destroyed more than 2,000 homes, and claimed the lives of hundreds of millions of animals.
Asked about the fires, Doherty called what the people of Australia are going through, “incomprehensible.”
“Words can’t describe it. It’s just incredible,” Doherty said.
“On behalf of our department, and I’m sure as many others, we send our condolences to those that have lost so much and also wish all those who are over there battling it to be safe. It’s an extremely dangerous and hazardous situation.”
Thus far, 95 Canadians are helping in the firefighting effort, including 19 from B.C.
As far as answering the call at a local level, Doherty said, “typically what would happen is, the call would come from the province to send resources out.”
“That way they would have some control on it,” he added. “They wouldn’t want individual departments sending off resources without any kind of control measures in place.”
