Summer of Smoke: The Minnesotans helping keep Canada's wildfires at bay
BRAINERD, Minn. – Dozens of Minnesotans are heading to Canada to help contain the historic wildfire season, which of course is also affecting Minnesotans.
Canada cannot do this alone – no country can. More than 5,000 wildfires have raged in three months, with a combined 30 million acres burned. That's more than half the size of Minnesota.
WCCO News spent several days in Canada, getting access to the hub of firefighting operations in Winnipeg, and a storm prediction center forecasting smoke clouds.
SUMMER OF SMOKE: WCCO visits Canada's hub of operations as nation battles 5,000 wildfires
Their faces reflected both exhaustion and exhilaration.
"We started anywhere between 6:30 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. and I don't think I went in the tent until 11:30 at night," Darren Bundy, a resident of Backus, MN, explained to WCCO. "It could be discouraging at times, but you still made progress where you worked that day, so it's all for the greater good."
Bundy was one of 15 foresters from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources that have just returned from two weeks in the Canadian province of Manitoba, battling an out-of-control fire with a footprint almost twice the size of the City of Minneapolis.
Lori Barrow, who lives near Bemidji, said she had never seen a wildfire like that in her career.
"I've never seen anything with that much momentum," she added. "And knowing I was working alongside my colleagues in a newish place definitely got my adrenaline up and put my head on a swivel to look out for one another."
SUMMER OF SMOKE: Canadian meteorologists adjust to forecasting smoke clouds as wildfires rage
More than 5,000 wildfires have raged across the country since May, tearing throw at least 30 million acres of forest.
Tens of thousands of Canadians have been displaced from their homes because of the flames, while the mountainous plumes of smoke continue to pollute large swaths of North America, including Minnesota and Wisconsin.
"The main reason why we're there is that area is under distress," Steve Sovinski, the crew chief from Aitken, MN, told WCCO News. "You're there to help your fellow neighbors to the North."
As members of the Great Lakes Compact, U.S. states like Minnesota and Canadian provinces like Manitoba have an agreement to share resources when battling wildfires or other disasters. Sovinski's team was the second rotation from MN DNR, and a third is now in Manitoba battling the same blaze.
"You take a sense of pride in it," he said. "Go put your nose to the grindstone, get after it and help people in need."
SUMMER OF SMOKE: Protecting yourself and loved ones from wildfire pollution
Across Canada, however, there are more than 2,100 American firefighters, with most being dispatched at the federal level from the U.S. Forest Service and National Interagency Fire Center in Boise.
David Lee, the U.S. Liaison to Canada, said it's the largest delegation ever from the United States.
"A lot of it is manpower and boots on the ground," Lee told WCCO News. "They just have so much fire on the ground up here. It's just incredible."
Americans and Canadians working together - and they're not alone, either. Firefighters from a dozen other countries have sent teams to Canada, from every continent except Antarctica.
"They've had Costa Rica, they've got Brazil, Portugal, Spain, France, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand," Lee noted. "It's just incredible the amount of help from all over the world. They have South Korea here."
No matter the language barrier - there's a shared sense of urgency in the moment because this is hardly a Canadian problem.
"Wildfires don't see political boundaries," Lori Barrow lamented. "It will keep coming, so we have to keep working with one another."
