Monday, July 10, 2023

2023 Wildfire Season: Vermont Forester Deployment to Quebec

I knew from social media that some northeastern states had deployed firefighters to Canada to assist in fighting the massive wildfires in Canada, but I did not know specific details until I saw a recent report on Vermont Public (Radio) with an interview of a Vermont Forester, Choloe Sardonis, who recently spent two weeks as a part of a team from the Northeastern Forest Fire Protection Compact deployed to Quebec. She joined firefighters from New York, New Hampshire, and Maine on a two week deployment to Maniwaki, Quebec. Before I get to the interview from Vermont Public, I want to share a little about the Northeastern Forest Fire Protection Commission.

Here is an overview of the Northeastern Forest Fire Protection Compact

The Northeastern Forest Fire Protection Commission (commonly called the Northeast Compact) is the pioneer forest fire protection compact in the United States. Its mandate is to provide the means for its U.S. member states and Canadian provinces to cope with fires that might be beyond the capabilities of a single member through information, technology and resource sharing (mutual aid) activities.

Several U.S. States, Canadian Provinces, Federal Agencies and one US. City are members of this compact, see this NFFPC webpage for more information:

  • State of Connecticut
  • State of Maine
  • State of Massachusetts
  • State of New Hampshire
  • State of New York
  • State of Rhode Island
  • State of Vermont
  • New York City (in the State of New York)
  • Federal Agencies in the NFFPP include the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. National Park Service
  • Province of New Brunswick (Canada)
  • Province of Newfoundland and Labrador (Canada)
  • Province of Nova Scotia (Canada)
  • Province of Prince Edward Island (Canada
  • Province of Quebec (Canada)
Two Teams from the NFFPC are currently deployed to Quebec, information about current and recent deployments by the NFFPC may be found here. Allow just under seven minutes to listen to the interview.

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