This article was first published on Fire Aviation.
The National Interagency Fire Center has mobilized two BAe-146 air tankers and one King Air lead plane to assist the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba. Tankers 10 and 41 will be working out of the air tanker base at Bemidji, Minnesota 86 miles south of the US/Canadian border.
The aircraft were ordered primarily for the Kenora #18 Fire that straddles the border between Manitoba and Ontario (the brown dots in the map below). But they could be used for fires in either province.
According to the U.S. National Interagency Fire Center, Canada has not requested U.S. assistance specifically for wildfires in Alberta. The aid, they said, was requested through a bilateral firefighting assistance agreement with the Canadian Interagency Fire Center (CIFC). At this time, Canada has not requested additional resources or assistance from the U.S., though NIFC and the CIFC are frequently communicating.
