Ottawa leasing four aircraft to help in fighting wildfires

The federal government is building its own aerial wildfire fighting fleet in the wake of Canada’s second-worst forest fire season on record.

Quebec MP Anthony Housefather was in Winnipeg Monday morning to highlight a federal budget line of $257.6 million over four years for Natural Resources Canada to lease four aircraft to aid in future wildfire fights.

Details on the funding were scant. Housefather said the federal government will be working with the provinces and territories to determine which type of aircraft is most needed to support firefighting efforts.

The federal government will be leasing the yet-to-be determined aircraft in order to get them in time for next year’s wildfire season.

Currently, each province manages its own wildfire response with its own fleet or by contracting equipment from other jurisdictions.

The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre helps co-ordinate resources between provinces and territories when needed, and looks to other countries when domestic assets are stretched thin.

Spokesperson Alexandria Jones said the interagency fire centre is supportive of the plan.

“Firefighting aircraft are a key resource, and this funding announcement is a positive action that will increase aerial suppression capabilities across Canada,” Jones said in an emailed statement.

Housefather did not have a tally on the estimated cost of this year’s wildfire season. In 2023, the nation’s worst wildfire season on record, wildfires caused an estimated $945 million in insured damages in several regions of British Columbia, Northwest Territories and Nova Scotia.

Natural Resources data states as of Nov. 19, 6,125 fires has burned more than 8.9 million hectares of land across Canada.

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca