N.W.T. to send 16 firefighters to help fight B.C. wildfires

The Northwest Territories will send four fire crews to assist firefighters battling hundreds of active fires in British Columbia, a territorial government spokesperson announced Monday.

Frank Lepine, the director of forest management for the territory's Department of Environment and Natural Resources, said in a press briefing that the territory will be sending 16 firefighters to Prince George, which is surrounded by active fires.

"We are going to send four initial attack crews [of four people each] to help out in B.C.," Lepine said. "They'll be driving down there, so that they have their initial attack trucks and their initial attack equipment."

As of Monday afternoon, 220 fires were burning across the province of B.C. More than 14,000 people have been displaced so far this summer by the hot, dry conditions.

• B.C. is burning: 14,000 people displaced in hot, dry conditions

Lepine said that the province reached out to the N.W.T. for help on Saturday. The four crews three based in the Deh Cho and onebased in the South Slave will leave on Wednesday.

Lepinedid not speculate as to how long the crews would be in the province, but said that "the usual period is a maximum of 19 days."

The N.W.T. has so far seen fewer fires than usual this year.

• Cool, wet weather contributes to slower than normal fire season in N.W.T.

The exception is near Fort Good Hope, pop. 516, in the Sahtu region where a state of emergency has been declared due to an 8,000-hectare wildfire burning outside of the community.

• State of emergency continues as fire near Fort Good Hope, N.W.T. grows to over 8,000 hectares

The N.W.T. is also well equipped to fight fires, having upgraded its fleet of water bombersfollowing the 2014 fire season, which was recorded as the worst season for fires in 30 years.

• N.W.T. gov't spends $26M on 8 new Fireboss water bombers
• Worst forest fires in 30 years cost N.W.T. $55M
• What the N.W.T. learned from last year's record fire season