MassWildlife Firefighters Help Battle Wildfires In Quebec

WESTBOROUGH, MA—Members of the fire crew from MassWildife, which has its headquarters in Westborough, joined the effort to battle wildfires in Quebec, Canada in July.

Fletcher Clark, Chris Connors and Ben Mazzei were joined by 16 wildland firefighters from the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) to form the Massachusetts Interagency Wildfire Crew- MA#1 and were mobilized through DCR and the Northeast Forest Fire Compact.

This crew containedtwo wildfires: one near Radisson and the other near Lebel-sur-Quevillon, but spent most of their time on a 24,500-acre fire on Wilson Lake in a remote area of Quebec. Lightning strikes caused the dry, dense vegetation in the area to ignite and caused the wildfires.

The crew from Massachusetts were deployed for two weeks and worked with other crews to build helicopter landing sites, secure sections of the fire and coordinate water drops.

On July 22, the Massachusetts crew returned back to the state safely. There are still many wildfires burning in the province of Québec alone. During the past week, rain has somewhat helped with battling the fires. However, if conditions dry out, the potential for large fires to become active again exists, according to MassWildlife. Québec continues to seek assistance from Canadian provinces and the northeastern United States to help cope with these wildfires.

"Please join us in welcoming these dedicated individuals back from this rugged assignment," says Caren Caljouw, MassWildlife's prescribed fire program manager in a statement. "We are very proud of the assistance they provided to our Canadian neighbors and know the vast experience they gained will translate directly to improving MassWildlife’s prescribed fire program and working as a cohesive team with DCR and other fire management partners."

Photo via Mass.gov/Division of Fisheries and Wildlife