A pair of Canberran firefighters are on their way to Canada to assist authorities with the fight against the worst forest fire season in decades.
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Forest fires in British Columbia have destroyed close to 200,000 hectares of land this season which is the largest area of land burnt in the province since the 1950s.
The pair of firefighters will assist with back-burning and ignition operations for up to five weeks.
Police and Emergency Services Minister Simon Corbell said Brett McNamara and Andrew Halley from the ACT Rural Fire Service Parks Brigade flew out of Canberra on Sunday afternoon.
An international call for help was issued by Canadian firefighting authorities who were close to exhausting their internal resources.
Australia received notification from the Canadian Interagency Fire Fighting Centre that wildfire conditions had deteriorated in the Canadian province of British Columbia on August 4.
A formal request was made for resources on August 5 and the ACT was approached to form part of an Australian contingent.
Eighty Australians will fly to the Canadian province in the coming days including more than 50 firefighters from Victoria.
“It is likely that the ACT personnel will be deployed to Kamloops in south British Columbia or to Prince George in Central British Columbia,” Mr Corbell said.
“British Columbia currently has high to extreme wild land fire hazards with more than 170 out of control or uncontained wildfires burning across the province.”
Mr Corbell said more than 198,000 hectares had been burnt out representing the largest area burnt at this time of year since 1958.
The ACT contributed to firefighting efforts in British Columbia in 2009 by sending three personnel to the province.
