Ottawa is to double a tax credit for volunteer firefighters and search-and-rescue volunteers, as it warned that this year’s wildfires could prove as catastrophic as last year.
He said practical knowledge, including on how to create buffer zones and effective fire breaks, could prove lifesaving. Mr. Odjick said when his father was a boy, he and his family fled to a water source to escape a raging blaze. “Canadians from coast to coast to coast have felt the increasing impacts of intense wildfires due to the changing climate. These emergencies, which threaten our communities, livelihoods and environment, are met by extraordinary individuals who volunteer as firefighters and search-and-rescue personnel. There is no braver person than one who is willing to sacrifice their own life for another,” Mr. Sajjan said.
Ottawa said in a statement that forecasts and early modelling of weather trends for this year indicate “we may be facing another catastrophic fire season.” Last year, eight firefighters died in Canada’s most destructive fire season when 18.4 million hectares burned and smoke from fires drifted into cities and over the border into the United States.