Two Northlanders are among 16 firefighters from rural New Zealand flying to Canada to help battle blazes raging in almost 800,000 hectares of forest.
The principal rural fire officer for Whangarei and Kaipara, Kevin Ihaka, and Diane Sanderson, of the Department of Conservation's Dargaville office, fly out from Auckland today for an initial 35-day deployment.
The western Canada wildfires in Edmonton have forced thousands of people to evacuate and thick smoke has triggered air quality warnings across the country and into the United States. The NZ firefighters will fly into Vancouver before transferring to Edmonton in Alberta, to start an expected five-week deployment providing frontline support to local firefighters, Mr Ihaka said.
![Kevin Ihaka all ready to fight wildfires in Canada. Photo / Michael Cunningham](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/5QPTXIWSGWWDPPYGJ7FEKXTWP4.jpg?auth=adfe0b73217e013ce8a714746b95eeccf2045e829c4f17da5bfa62fb35f6c97b&width=16&height=20&quality=70&smart=true)
He said he had never been to fight fires in Canada but New Zealand had sent firefighters to the second largest country in the world when asked previously.