International Cooperation Activities

2009

Australian/New Zealand Wildfire Support August-September 2009

On 6 August 2009, two Type 1 Incident Management Teams consisting of twenty-two personnel from Australia and eight personnel from New Zealand arrived in British Columbia to assist with wildfire suppression efforts during this exceptionally busy fire season. The two teams supported the suppression of fires in Lillooet, Prichard and Notch Hill over a 34 day period.

British Columbia has fostered a relationship with Australia for more than ten years, a relationship that culminated in the development of a resource-sharing agreement with the State of Victoria in December 2006. Since then, Australia has engaged B.C. wildfire personnel on their fires in 2007 and 2009. The agreement provides an exchange of personnel, knowledge, skills, equipment, technologies and mutual support in the event of an emergency.

The New Zealand contingent was organized through the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) in Winnipeg by means of a new agreement established between Canada and New Zealand.

Additionally, two Burnt Area Environmental Recovery experts and two Fire Behaviour Analysts from the State of Victoria came to BC for two weeks under the 2006 Agreement as part of a learning and development exchange. The four Australian personnel worked directly with BC Wildfire Management Branch experts to expand on and share Australian expertise in these two fields. All costs for this program were covered by the State of Victoria.

Argentina Weather Forecaster Visit to BC

During the month of August, Ezequiel Marcuzzi, a fire weather forecaster from the Argentina National Fire Management Plan (PNMF), came to British Columbia to participate in a fire weather learning and development program. Ezequiel worked with BC Wildfire Management Branch weather experts in Kelowna, Castlegar, Kamloops, and the Cariboo to observe and experience on how BC uses fire weather forecasting in the response and management of wildfires. The skills and experiences he learnt will help to improve fire weather forecasting in Argentina. To ensure that Ezequiel's month long tour was a success, he was hosted and supported during his time in BC by Mike Woodroff, Ron Lakeman, Paul Emmett, Dave Marek, Paul Robertson and George Blakey. Rob Pigott was also instrumental in the planning process leading up to Ezequiel's arrival. The BC WMB would also like to recognize the support of Meteorological Services Canada who assisted with the tour.

Ezequiel was exposed to fire weather forecasting operations at fire centers, hands on maintenance of weather stations, fire behaviour predictions and field operations on some of the larger incidents. This permitted him to see the application of weather information at all levels of our organization and how it is used to guide our operations and provide for the safety of our staff and the public.

The BC Wildfire Management Branch has been cooperating with the PNMF since 2000, assisting in the implementation of the Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System across all of Argentina and participating in learning and development exchanges. All costs for this program were covered by the PNMF.

Initial Attack Practical Attachment Summer 2009

From July 8th to September 3rd, three officers from the Greek Hellenic Fire Brigade (HFB), Spyridon Varsamis, Antonios Panagiotakis, and Menelaos Andresakis, participated in a British Columbia Initial Attack Practical Attachment with the Wildfire Management Branch (WMB). The three officers spent 58 days as members of BC Initial Attack crews in Kamloops, Penticton, and Castlegar learning how the BC Wildfire Management Branch manages initial attack wildfires. The purpose of the program was to expose the Greek firefighters to the skills, management, and support processes of the BC Initial Attack program so that they can determine what aspects of the WMB IA program are applicable in Greece and lead in the development of a trial initial attack program when they return.

The IA practical attachment was a follow up from 2008 New Recruit Boot Camp Training program and discussion with HFB officials in Greece this March. The entire program is being funded by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, a benevolent organization that has committed to help strengthen the Hellenic Fire Brigade's wildfire management capacity.

Greek New Recruit Instructor Training Followup March 2009

In March 2009, Mike Benson and Richard King from the BC Wildfire Management Branch (WMB) travelled to Greece to meet with the Hellenic Fire Brigade (HFB) and observe the delivery of a WMB New Recruit Instructor Training course by Greek trainers to HFB officers. This visit is a follow-up to the New Recruit Instructor Training Camp put on in October in British Columbia in 2008. All of the Greek trainers were students from this camp.

This was the first time that the BC new recruit boot camp training materials have been delivered in Greece and the expectation is that these newly trained officers will then deliver the training to their recruits and firefighters to help improve the Hellenic Fire Brigade's capacity and effectiveness in responding to wildfire incidents in Greece. While in Greece, Mike and Richard evaluated the delivery of the new recruit course, provided feedback to the course instructors, and held discussions with HFB officials to discuss future training initiatives.

This trip was the final phase of the three part training grant provided by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, a Greek benevolent organization.

2008

Greek New Recruit Boot Camp Instructor Training October 2008

On October 18th - 26th, fifteen members of the Hellenic Fire Brigade visited the Salmon Arm Rappel training centre and to take part in a one week New Recruit Instructor Training Camp. The camp was designed to introduce the Greek firefighters to the Wildfire Management Branch's new recruit training methods and wildfire suppression techniques. The week long training camp featured both classroom and practical exercises. The Hellenic Fire Brigade delegation consisted entirely of fire suppression trainers and was led by Stelios Ioannidis who previously visited BC in May of 2008.

This program is the second phase of a training grant provided to the Hellenic Fire Brigade by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, a Greek international charitable organization who previously sponsored the Aviation Practical Attachment, which brought two other members of the Hellenic Fire Brigade to BC in August.

The camp was led by Michael Benson and was instructed by Chad Smith, Andy Low, Doug Smith, Hugh Murdoch, and Mike Allan. All of the instructors did a wonderful job of teaching and hosting the delegates.

Greek Aviation Practical August 2008 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.