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Canadian Firefighters Are Being Sent Over To Help Aussies

Canadian Firefighters Are Being Sent Over To Help Aussies

The group of firies have generously given up their Christmas and New Year to help extinguish our bushfires.

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

A group of Canadian firefighters have generously given up their Christmas and New Year to help their Aussie counterparts battle intense bushfires.

In one of the worst starts to the bushfire season, there have been hundreds of infernos burning around the country, in particular New South Wales and Queensland.

Hundreds of homes have been destroyed and damaged and several lives have been lost.

Channel 7

Aussie authorities petitioned the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, based in Winnipeg, last week to see if they had any firefighters who would be able to help us out in our time of need.

Premier of the Canadian province of Manitoba, Brian Pallister said: "We are pleased to help the people of Australia as they face these devastating fires, especially since Manitoba has been on the receiving end of help from friends and neighbours when wildfires and other natural disasters hit our province."

They have selected 21 firefighters, who will gather together in Vancouver before flying to Australia for a near 40 day deployment.

BC Wildfire Service

This morning the New South Wales Rural Fire Service revealed that there were nearly 100 bushfires on their watch at the moment.

"There are 98 fires burning, 46 not contained. There are five fires at Watch and Act. More than 1,500 firefighters are preparing for a challenging day ahead. Nine areas have Total Fire Bans in place. There is widespread Severe fire danger forecast," the RFS wrote in a tweet.

The bushfires have left a massive smoke haze around Sydney, causing issues for people with breathing difficulties.

Shockingly, data from the NSW Department of Environment says Sydney's air quality over the past few weeks have been three times worse than any moment in the last five years.

On Tuesday, the smoke was so bad that it was the equivalent of smoking 30 cigarretes.

Featured Image Credit: Channel 7

Topics: News, Australia