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| 麻州州長Maura Healey (右一)和副州長 Kim Driscoll聯袂為11名消防員送行。 (州長辦公室提供) |
麻州州長奚莉 (Maura Healey)表示，最近這幾年，人們看得到世界各地的氣候危機對地方市鎮的衝擊，包括天氣極端，野火頻燒。她為麻州能夠派出11名消防員支援，感到自豪。
這11名消防員都通過了40小時的聯邦野外消防課程和體能測試，獲得了聯邦認證。將形成”野火鎮壓模組 (“Wildfire Suppression Module)”，直接從事滅火、確保防火範圍，建防火力牆，控制火勢，保護結構等工作。
近年來，由於氣候變化，氣溫上升，長年乾旱以及缺乏降雨和降雪等因素，世界各地火災活動越來越劇烈，火災季節更長，影響也更加嚴重。到目前為止，麻州今年已有超過820起野火燃燒事件，燃燒了1,500英畝的土地。
魁北克的情況只是加拿大各地今年，包括不列顛哥倫比亞省、艾伯塔省，最近還有新斯科舍省等地，野火頻生中的最新案例。到目前為止，麻州今年已經有超過820起野火燃燒了1,500英畝的土地。
自從1985年以來，麻州環保局 (DCR) 的森林防火控制局一直與美國林務局和東北森林防火保護委員會合作，派遣部隊到西部和落基山脈地區，以及阿拉斯加、佛羅里達、弗吉尼亞和魁北克等地區進行消防工作。
The responding DCR firefighters are as follows:
Benjamin Jennell West
Newbury
Robert Armstrong Conway
George Kleczka Plainville
James Kontoules Salem
Eryn Donohoe Sagamore
Beach
Charles Uchendu Oak
Bluffs
Jacob O’Donnell Milles
Anders Anderson Carver
Derick Valovcin Holliston
Tyler Desautels Milbury
Alex Desrochers Plymouth
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| 麻州州長Maura Healey 和副州長 Kim Driscoll (中) 聯袂為11名消防員送行。(州長辦公室提供) |
Healey-Driscoll Administration Sends Wildland Firefighters to Help Battle Quebec Blazes
CARLISLE –– Today, Governor Maura Healey, Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll, Energy and Environmntal Affairs (EEA) Secretary Rebecca Tepper, and officials from the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) joined together to send off 11 state wildland firefighters to Quebec, Canada to help battle some of the more than 124 wildfires that have burned since the beginning of June.
“Over the last several years we have seen the impacts of the climate crisis here at home and around the world, in the forms of extreme weather and increasingly severe wildfires that continue to ravage our forests,” said Governor Maura Healey. “We are proud of these 11 Massachusetts wildland firefighters who are heading up to assist our Canadian partners in battling these intense wildfires.”
“We feel the effects of the climate crisis every day from the extreme heat to droughts to the smoke polluting our air,” said Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll. “We appreciate the men and women from Massachusetts that will join the team fighting wildfires in Quebec and making our environment safer for all of us.”
“Firefighters are on the frontlines of the climate crisis, risking their lives to save others,” said Energy & Environmental Affairs Secretary Tepper. “I was grateful for the opportunity to thank them directly this morning and we will keep them in our thoughts as we forge ahead to a clean energy future. The clean energy transition is about people, and we see that today.”
“DCR is committed to doing everything we can to protecting our natural lands for generations to come and today’s deployment of these 11 DCR firefighters to help our friends and partners in Quebec is part of that commitment,” said DCR Commissioner Brian Arrigo. “These are extremely well-trained and dedicated firefighters whose skills are much needed, and whose help, we know is enormously appreciated.”
The officials gathered this morning to send off the firefighter crew at DCR’s Bureau of Forestry and Fire Control headquarters in Carlisle.
The deployment is in response to a request DCR received last week from the Northeast Forest Fire Protection Commission and the Northeastern Interagency Coordination Center at the White Mountain National Forest in Campden, NH. The firefighters will travel to La Touque, where they will be assigned to one of many ongoing fire incidents throughout the province. The crew, which is also referred to as a “Wildfire Suppression Module,” will engage in direct fire suppression, working on the fire line for about 14 days – building fire breaks, securing fire perimeters, containing fires, and protecting structures.
Rising temperatures, drier conditions due to years long droughts, and a lack of rain and snowfall, all caused by climate change, are fueling increased fire activity, making fire season last longer and its effects more severe. These conditions have made wildfires over the last few years more extreme and active than in the past. Climate change is also affecting wildlife in forested areas including an increase in insect activity which affects tree mortality and can create more fuel for fires to feed off. So far this year in Massachusetts, over 820 wildfires have burned 1,500 acres.
The Quebec situation is just the latest in an ongoing wildfire issue across Canada this year, including British Columbia, Alberta, and most recently Nova Scotia, and has resulted in major smoke impacts across the northeastern United States. The Northeast Forest Fire Protection Commission is a compact comprised of the six New England states, New York and four eastern Canadian provinces, including Quebec. Massachusetts is one of the original members of the compact, which was formed in 1949 to provide interstate and international wildland fire mutual aid assistance.
Since 1985, partnering with the U.S. Forest Service and the Northeast Forest Fire Protection Commission, DCR’s Bureau of Forest Fire Control has sent crews to fight fires in areas of the western and Rocky Mountain states, as well as Alaska, Florida, Virginia and Quebec.
All firefighters are federally certified,
having passed a 40-hour federal wildland firefighting class and physical
fitness test.
The responding DCR firefighters are as follows:
Benjamin Jennell West Newbury
Robert Armstrong Conway
George Kleczka Plainville
James Kontoules Salem
Eryn Donohoe Sagamore
Beach
Charles Uchendu Oak
Bluffs
Jacob O’Donnell Milles
Anders Anderson Carver
Derick Valovcin Holliston
Tyler Desautels Milbury
Alex Desrochers Plymouth
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