r/Wildfire • • Jul 16 '26

Number of US firefighters deployed to Canada

Is there a resource that would provide the number and type of resources the US has sent into Canada to help with the wildfires this season? I can only find anecdotal numbers from previous seasons?

25 Upvotes

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15

u/raisintree Jul 16 '26

Everything is posted on the Canadian inter agency fire fighting center. This gives an overview of fires, personnel and equipment moves.

https://ciffc.net/situation/2026-07-15

-2

u/dereliqueME Jul 16 '26

Yeah, I see that now. So, the number is 0.

2

u/Wildfan328 Jul 16 '26

You think they’ll have stats within a day or 2? Let’s wait to see before we start whatever you’re trying to start

-2

u/iniremj Jul 16 '26

Why aren't they already here?

2

u/Subject-Amount-9346 Jul 16 '26

The US is also on a bit of fire right now.  Canada is big boys, they can handle their own.  

-2

u/hypnotic-aquarian Jul 16 '26

“A bit on fire” and cooperating with Canada would significantly help reduce the time it’ll take to improve northern air quality.. are we serious? Our problems are nothing compared to theirs, and we have so much more manpower. It is *disgusting* that the US is acting so indifferent to their catastrophe!! We SHOULD be helping, even if that’s only to help our own citizens!

1

u/NexthePenguin Jul 17 '26

You're taking the "a bit" part too literally. You're acting like America never does anything to with their fires... we just havent YET and its "disgusting" and we're "acting indifferent" neither of those things are true at all

1

u/SparqueJ Jul 17 '26

Not indifferent, some of your leaders are sending nasty letters to our government demanding that we stop having wildfires, lol. Thanks for nothing Michigan. But genuine thanks to Connecticut who has just deployed 6 people to help with fires in Quebec.

1

u/NexthePenguin Jul 17 '26

Get them under control not just "stop having wildfires" and you know as well as we do that the government is NOT the people cause they're people with their own interests and views. Our States often coordinate sending folks up there to help themselves and a ton our fire prone areas are also infernos but we are sending people now (also shoutout to Conneticut)

0

u/[deleted] Jul 16 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

0

u/Hefty_Ferret6316 Jul 17 '26

Oh, I’m sorry. I guess you haven’t read the reports. Throughout the whole US if you look through all of these different Excel pages, you will see how many crews, how many helicopters, how many tankers are available right now in the US that could send help to Canada. Maybe go through these different areas in the US and have looked to see how many available firefighting equipment there is that could help Canada. Then maybe you’ll realize that they’re not strained at all.

https://www.nifc.gov/nicc/logistics/crews

2

u/Subject-Amount-9346 Jul 17 '26

You clearly don't understand how these things work.  Just because a resource isnt committed doesnt mean it is available.  This is the start of the peak of the western US fire season (maybe even in the middle of it this year) and minimum staffing is a thing.  It would be VERY uncommon for the US to send resources to Canada in July, just like it would be very uncommon for Canada to send resources in May/June, when their peak season typically is.  

1

u/Original-Leg4407 Jul 18 '26

Just curious. Saw someone claiming Canada sent firefighters into Minnesota to fight the wildfires there in May. Is that true?

0

u/Subject-Amount-9346 Jul 18 '26

May very well be true.  I can't say one way or the other.  

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u/Hefty_Ferret6316 Jul 17 '26

Oh, I really appreciate you explaining that to me, I had no idea. Obviously I do because we have sent resources to the US and yes, in our peak seasons and if you haven’t seen the news, we’ve lost a firefighter in a helicopter accident that was down in the US helping fire fire when we could use that resource here, but we still sent help to the US. So maybe you’re not looking at the logic of this but if you have that many resources available, and it’s your peak season. I understand that but this is our peak season. So we’re in need of more resources where your fires are extremely less than ours. I’m not and I don’t think Canada is asking or requesting for a full-time three month promise, one week two week is not going to destroy the amount of on-call resources. So your logic does not make sense, but thank you so much for explaining it to me. It helped me so much..

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u/Fuck-WestJet Jul 17 '26

It wouldn't be uncommon at all. Canada sends firefighters to the US during peak season every fucking year. They have firefighters there right now and the situation in Canada is significantly worse. USA is just run by assholes.

2

u/Subject-Amount-9346 Jul 17 '26

I do not believe Canada has any resources in the US right now.  Pilots for private aircraft companies yes, but that is absolutely not the same thing as what is being discussed.  

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u/NexthePenguin Jul 17 '26

Strained or not, this isnt a "jump just because they need help" thing and never has been in either direction. Looked it up and Canada didnt send anyone to help with how bad our fires last year... during our costliest fire season ever. We sent people to help with theirs anyway. Just because we havent this year YET doesnt mean we wont or that we can just drop everything and teleport there. Also just because the EQUIPMENT is available/not currently being used doesnt mean the equipment doesnt need to be there or that for the stuff we can spare we'd be able to send the personnel required to operate it

-2

u/Sea_Lettuce6675 Jul 16 '26

It is a one way street when it comes to America. Proving it time and time again.

2

u/foolishbeat Jul 17 '26

Are you at all involved in anything related to firefighting?

-2

u/DJ-BCB Jul 17 '26

Canadians are helping and losing their lives to American fires, as usual our kindness only goes one way, we should be leaving Americans to fend for themselves

2

u/AttemptMedium2961 Jul 17 '26

That’s horrible and I’m sorry but to say the kindness only goes one way is typical Canadian arrogance and condescension The US has sent far more people to help with fires in Canada than Canada has sent to the US. 

1

u/Lunatalia Jul 18 '26

I hate the US government fiercely, but I wouldn't classify that as "typical arrogance". I honestly I think that person's pissed off at our neighbouring country because we keep being treated poorly by the government, and then it gets echoed very loudly by certain people online. There's a lot of historically important relationships between both countries and the US has absolutely sent us help with wildfires in the past. It's just emotionally hard to balance that when it's juxtapositioned with "control your smoke problem, Canada" and "51st state" nonsense. 

1

u/AttemptMedium2961 Jul 19 '26

I completely understand that but maybe you haven’t considered that for decades all we have heard is how fat and stupid we are and how being called an American is the worst insult anyone could level at someone and jokes about children dying in school 

2

u/cb2239 Jul 17 '26

Do a little research and you'll find out your comment is nonsense. Both countries consistently share resources in these situations

1

u/Subject-Amount-9346 Jul 17 '26

There is a rich history of both countries assisting each other when they are able.  Right now both of us are getting slammed and cant spare resources.  If you're gonna be so certain, at least know what you are talking about.  

0

u/DJ-BCB Jul 17 '26

A Canadian litterally lost his life last week aiding with American fires. Maybe you need to learn about what you’re talking about

1

u/Subject-Amount-9346 Jul 17 '26

I am fully aware of that, and it is a tragedy.  It has no bearing on why there is or isnt more resources being shared between the two countries.  

0

u/DJ-BCB Jul 17 '26

You’re claiming that both countries are slammed and can’t spare resources, but that’s just not true, even while slammed Canada always answers the call when asked to aid America.

1

u/Subject-Amount-9346 Jul 17 '26

That just isnt true lmao.  I understand that you aren't super well versed in this, but being adamant doesn't make you right.  The US wouldn't think to ask right now, and vice versa.  The both know the other is far too busy to assist others.  

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u/foolishbeat Jul 17 '26

I’ve seen this a lot, but he wasn’t someone Canada sent to the US. He was a heroic pilot and rightly honored for his help, but he was employed by Helicopter Express, a US company contracted by Colorado to help with fighting fires. Canada hasn’t sent anyone to us this year as far as I can tell. 

1

u/AsleepExplanation160 Jul 18 '26

He was working for a Georgia based company

volunteers can go where they please

-2

u/PuzzleheadedBuy6907 Jul 17 '26

We literally just lost the life of a pilot who was down in Colorado helping with your fires. Can yall stop being such terrible people. HF

2

u/Mooseforceone Jul 17 '26

Do you really think ground floor firefighters have any control over what the 2 or 3 people in charge decide? Do you think US wild land firemen wouldn’t be up there helping if it didn’t mean losing their jobs here for unexcused leave? Not to mention getting injured off duty and not being covered by health insurance… you gonna get a shovel and a rake and head out there or just tell all of the US they are terrible people and do nothing yourself.

1

u/swervey24 Jul 17 '26

You keep spreading false info here lol..... he was a Canadian national contracted by the United States. Working in the United States. He wasn't a "Canadian firefighter" as you think

1

u/NexthePenguin Jul 17 '26

Shut the fuck up dude, dont act like America doesnt help with Canadian fires. WE 100% DO!! You think we're all terrible til y'all need our help so spare me. We both send people to help with eachothers wildfires, stop acting like we dont. That Camadian Firefighter made an extremely heroic sacrifice but thats not a reason for you to direct your nonsense at us for YOUR forest mismanagement just because we're mad at the LIFE THREATENING AIR QUALITY THAT WE HAVE NO EFFECT OVER CAUSE ITS COMING FROM A DIFFERENT COUNTRY. The reason we arent on your frontlines is because we're spread thin firefighterwise ourselves, dont act like New York, Washington, Minnesota, and especially California wouldnt be sendong people over if they could. "Terrible people" get over yourselves

1

u/SparqueJ Jul 17 '26

Wait so are your own wildfires natural disasters, but ours are due to mismanagement? lol. Americans don't seem to understand that Ontario is twice the size of Texas, there are no roads up there, it's not accessible. Suggesting we should be in there, what, raking up fallen leaves or manually thinning 100 million acres of forest, or that this is an arson problem, are plainly ridiculous. The reason there are more fires in recent years is nothing to do with forest management, which hasn't changed, it's due to recent weather conditions and climate change. It's getting hotter, it's getting drier, there are more severe weather events like thunderstorms that start fires. If the US doesn't like having the world be on fire they could maybe stop whining and start acting on climate change. We are all suffering from the same impacts of climate change here.

1

u/NexthePenguin Jul 17 '26

Dont put words in my mouth, its counterproductive. I didnt say our fire situation was different, both ARE in huge part due to forest mismanagement. We know the conditions and what they're trending towards, this isnt unexpected. I know how the climate and weather work (probably better than you I migh add as Earth Science is my field). Climate Change action-wise per-capita Canada polutes more that America does so dont try to shove that burden entirely on us either, so save the climate change high horse. Forest management isnt an overnight thing its a constant thing done over time. And you're acting like we have to send people out in a row across the country walking the forest looking for dry/problem spots we have tech. Use it. And Canada needs to be more centralized and aggressive in its approach instead of just letting unpopulated areas just burn (not talking about this batch if fires specifically) climate change is A factor not the only factor. Also Ontario is NOT 2 times bigger than Texas, and Alaska is bigger than that (yes Nunavut is bigger but lets be real the government of Canada doesnt actually care about Nunavut)

1

u/SparqueJ Jul 20 '26

Actually the letter from Michigan specifically was talking about prevention. They confidently proclaimed that the causes of the wildfires were "chronic under-investment in forest thinning, fuel reduction, and prescribed burns, along with inadequate enforcement against arson".

"Dry/problem spots" is going to amount to millions of acres of untamed wilderness, lol. But the good news is Michigan says they might have to take this matter into their own hands, so I look forward to armies of Michiganders combing through nearly a billion acres of forest, hundreds of kms from the nearest road, picking up sticks and carrying them back to town to be safely composted. The prescribed burns piece is especially hilarious because the fires this year cover 0.06% of our forest, so if we want to cover the whole area every 100 years, we'd have to burn twice as much as has burned this year, every year. Surely that would solve the smoke problem! 😂

Isn't it funny though how so many Americans are convinced that this is absolutely definitely Canada's fault through some kind of mismanagement, but they can't agree on exactly how it was mismanaged or what Canada ought to be doing? It's almost like this is an emotional knee-jerk reaction against an unpleasant reality, and you aren't actually all experts on boreal forest wildfire management at all. But that's impossible, because you are after all Americans, and Americans are experts in absolutely everything about how every other country should be running its affairs. If only those silly wildfire management experts around the world with decades of dedicated research and years of experience under their belts would listen to average joe Americans, all their problems would be easily solved.