International Cooperation Activities

From August 2-18, two senior members of the Hellenic Fire Brigade in Greece, Dionysios Vorisis and Georgios Pournaras, visited BC to take part in Aviation Practical Attachment training. This program was a training grant sponsored by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, a Greek international charitable organization. Jeff Berry, Manager of Aviation Operations and Steve Newton, Superintendent of Aviation Operations, spent the entire two weeks with the delegates and were paramount in the delivery of the training, organizing and integrating Air Attack officers, PATC personnel, and South East Fire Centre employees.

During their two weeks in BC, the delegates visited Headquarters in Victoria, the Kamloops Fire Centre, the South East Fire Centre, and the Provincial Air Tanker Centre where they observed our aviation and command operations during active fire incidents. In addition to job shadowing key roles in our organization and touring fire operations, they also had the opportunity to ride in the back seat a bird dog and a tanker. The purpose of the program was to enable the Hellenic Fire Brigade to gain a more complete understanding of our program's aviation operations in order to better determine what training opportunities are best suited to the Greek program. In October, a group of fourteen members of the Hellenic Fire Brigade will be travelling to BC to take part in a Wildland Fire Fighter Introductory Training course.

Further to the cooperative activities undertaken in Greece in December 2007, a small delegation of Greek officials came to British Columbia. The contingency was composed of John Zervakis who represented the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, and two senior members of the Hellenic Fire Brigade. Accompanied by Andre Gerolymatos of Simon Fraser University, the group took part in a tour of our New Recruit Bootcamp training in Merritt. The two Hellenic Fire Brigade members observed, over a period of three days, the delivery of the training that BCFS delivers to its pool of prospective new fire fighters. This exposure to our training methodology and process helped confirm a training strategy for the Hellenic Fire Brigade members this summer and fall.

In addition to the tour of boot camp, the international delegates were exposed to our Headquarters and Kamloops Fire Center Operations as part of a Protection Program Overview to give the Greek delegates a better understanding of our program and operating environment. The Stavros Niarchos Foundation continues to financially support this cooperative endeavour aimed at further developing the Hellenic Fire Brigades training program improving their capabilities to meet the needs of their countries wildland fire issues.

Activity: In response to Greece’s devastating fire season of 2007, 9 members of the Ministry of Forest and Range were invited to participate in the workshop titled Wildfire Management and Economic Development. The workshop, which took place in Athens, was sponsored by the philanthropic Stavros Niarchos Foundation and was organized through the department of Hellenic studies at Simon Fraser University.

Following a tour of fire affected sites and meetings with Greek counterparts, Ministry of Forests and Range staff delivered presentations highlighting observations and potential areas of opportunity. Subsequently, 19 preliminary recommendations were conveyed to the Stavros Niarchos Foundation focussing on how to improve operations in the key areas of the wildfire business cycle (preparedness, suppression and rehabilitation). The top priority recommended was the development of community wildfire protection plans given the tragic loss of lives and property resulting from the 2007 fire season.

Activity: A contingency of 30 Italian Fire technicians and 3 senior tutors from the Lombardy Region of Northern Italy participated in a one week training program at the Rapattack Operations Center. The Italian delegation represented the variety of Fire management agencies operating in the Lombardy region. The training program was conducted through simultaneous interpreters and consisted of ICS, Helicopter Safety, Airtanker Awareness, and Fire Cause Investigation for First Responders. In addition to receiving training, participants were exposed to a variety of fuel management projects, a tour of the Rappel Operations Center and a tour/chronology of the Kelowna fire of 2003.

Activity: Marcel Jonkman and Nico Koolen from the Netherlands Disaster Management group visited British Columbia's Ministry of Forests and Range, Protection Program. Specifically, the Dutch visitors participated in tours of the Kamloops Fire Centre, Provincial Air Tanker Centre, REMSAT (Real-time Emergency Management via Satellite) operations trailer and the Vernon Fire Zone. The purpose of the visit was to learn how British Columbia uses satellite imagery, resource tracking and other enabling technologies to manage operational resources on large-scale incidents. Both Nico and Marcel were able to take what they observed in British Columbia back to their country and incorporate into their plans to use evolving European-based technology into their own emergency management organization in the Netherlands.

Activity: Representing the Province of British Columbia's Ministry of Forests and Range, Protection Program, Dr. Judi Beck, Manager, Fire Management and Brian Simpson, Manager, Fire Operations participated in the 4th International Wildland Fire Conference in Seville, Spain. The main objective of the conference was to develop an international strategy to prevent the reduction of forested areas around the world. More than 1,000 experts from 120 countries in five continents were present to debate land and fire management issues. The conference was open to participation by regional wildland fire networks, government agencies, non-governmental organisations, research institutions, industry and other representatives of civil society to contribute to the objectives of the conference. Specifically, Dr. Beck delivered an oral presentation at the conference titled, "Wildfire Threat Analysis and the Development of a Fuel Management Strategy for British Columbia." By participating in the conference through delivery of the presentation and various side discussions with international delegates representing fire / emergency management agencies throughout the event, British Columbia was an active participant in this international event supporting collaboration across the global fire community.

Activity: Since the 4-year CIDA funded fire management project 1999-2003, British Columbia's Ministry of Forests and Range, Protection Program has continued collaboration with Argentina's National Fire Management Plan to further develop implementation of a national fire danger rating system for Argentina. Since 2003, various technical visits have taken place to build on previous efforts and momentum from the CIDA project. Dave Marek, Senior Fire Behaviour Analyst, Wildfire Management Branch has been instrumental in much of the technical exchange between BC and Argentina over the past few years and recently conducted a comprehensive visit to various regions in Argentina to work with Argentine fire managers and technical staff in the provinces of Chubut (Patagonia), Mendoza, La Pampa (Central/Andean), and Misiones (Northeast) to provide valuable input towards practical application of scientific technology into operational decision making. This process has taken place primarily in fire-prone Patagonia (pilot project) over the past few years with some success - resulting in a Fire Weather Index being implemented. The various other provinces throughout Argentina are now participating towards the overall objective to implement a 'national' system. According to Dr. Maria del Carmen Dentoni, Project Leader, National Fire Management Plan, "It was a most positive trip, for Patagonia to go further with the applications of the system, the review of activities in the northeast, and the introduction of the system in Mendoza and La Pampa covering now more than half of the country. We found great interest from the fire organizations in each province and also the consortiums in the northeast. We are now organizing all the work that is coming, as result of these activities!" In addition to the project continuation work in the implementation of the fire danger rating system in Argentina, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Argentina and British Columbia on December 18, 2006 to facilitate cooperation activities and further technology transfer in the areas of wildfire protection and natural resource management. Further activities are now being elaborated through a work plan called 'Vision 2020' which will see various development activities scheduled over the next several years.

Activity: In January 2007, the Ministry of Forests and Range, Protection Program responded to a request by the State of Victoria, Australia to assist local agencies manage some of the largest fires in recorded history. The Province of British Columbia responded to this request with a deployment of 52 personnel for six weeks to assist with the management of various large-scale incidents that threatened local communities.

After ten years of continuous drought, the climatic conditions in the State of Victoria created an extremely volatile fire season resulting in a record of over 900 fires, approximately 200 structures destroyed and over 1 million hectares of area burned.

A cooperation agreement between British Columbia and the State of Victoria signed in December 2006 continues to serve as the foundation for the resource exchange and is the result of a long-term relationship building. Previous cooperation consists of helicopter rappel crew exchanges, fire aviation coordination training, operational tours and ongoing technical transfer and information exchange.

Increasing fire conditions and decreasing budgets have placed growing demands on emergency response agencies throughout the world, promoting the need to establish alliances between fire management organizations. The deployment of BC personnel to Australia demonstrates that wildland fire expertise and resource sharing is possible, not only within Canada but across the globe.