Michelle Daw, Yorke Peninsula Country Times
Former Kadina local Dan Brind is part of the South Australian contingent helping to battle massive wildfires burning out of control in Canada.
Dhilba-Guuranda Innes National Park regional operations manager senior ranger Mark Davison is also part of the group.
More than 400 fires are burning in the east and west of the country, with many considered to be out of control, and the smoke is affecting millions of residents in Canada and the United States.
Mr Brind, who is ForestrySA’s fire manager, left Adelaide for Canada last week and is part of the 18 SA firefighters from the Country Fire Service and the National Parks and Wildlife Service SA in the delegation.
ForestrySA chief executive Julian Speed said Mr Brind had arrived in Edmonton, Alberta and was expected to be deployed in western Alberta for six to seven weeks.
“This will be Dan’s first overseas deployment and it’s a fantastic opportunity to provide assistance on the ground in Canada and learn much from working with Canadian counterparts,” Mr Speed said.
He said Mr Brind was the only ForestrySA representative in the current group and one of the very few ForestrySA employees to be deployed overseas in a fire-fighting capacity.
“Dan was selected due to his forest fire fighting experience and ability to provide management assistance in a sector control on-ground role,” Mr Speed said.
CFS state coordinator Leigh Miller said international deployments were valuable opportunities for SA firefighters to increase their skills and build national and international relationships.
“The knowledge and contacts our people gain from these kinds of deployments also benefit the communities we serve in the fire danger seasons ahead,” he said.
This article appeared in the Yorke Peninsula Country Times, 14 June 2023.
