The Paraná Military Firefighters (CBMPR) will join another international mission from Brazil to fight forest fires. This time, the State will act in Canada, a country which is suffering from record fires this year. The corporation will be represented by 1st Lieutenant Bruno Eduardo da Macena, from the 2nd Ponta Grossa Fire Brigade, who has specialized training to act in this type of situation.

The lieutenant’s departure for Brasilia is scheduled for this Friday (14), from where he will travel to Canada this weekend. He will travel as part of a brigade made up of 20 firefighters from across the country specializing in fighting forest fires for a period of 30 days, which can be extended if necessary.

The group was formed following a request for support from the Brazilian Cooperation Agency of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the National Council of Military Firefighters of Brazil. In total, the Brazilian mission will be made up of 100 agents, with members from the ministries of Environment, Defense, Justice and Regional Integration and Development.

According to the general commander of the Paraná Military Fire Brigade, Colonel Vasco de Figueiredo Junior, the institution has a long history of intervention in forest fires, which began to take shape after the historic fires that occurred in 1963 and which affected 128 cities. in Paraná, it is the worst tragedy of its kind in Brazil and one of the biggest in the world.

“Since the 1960s, when the state was hit by major fires, the Paraná Fire Department has trained its officers and recruited personnel to act effectively in serving the Paraná community. This work has made the company a benchmark in fighting forest fires, with firefighters working in the Amazon, Mato Grosso, Chile and now Canada,” said the General Commander.

According to Macena, the firefighters chosen for the Brazilian mission had to have completed a forest fire prevention and fighting course and be trained in the operation of the incident command system, which is an important tool used to manage this type of fire. operation.

For the lieutenant, his participation in the mission represents a great challenge, but also an opportunity to represent the firefighters of Paraná. “This week has been quite eventful for the preparation of the entire team. We are in contact with firefighters from Portugal who are returning from the same mission to collect information on the characteristics of the region in which we will intervene, because the conditions there are completely different from those in Brazil,” he commented.

INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT – In February this year, Sergeant Natanael Kovalski of the CBMPR worked in the fight against forest fires in Chile, in a mission in which the soldier of the Paraná Military Police, Geovane dos Santos, also participated . The company was also present in other regions of Brazil in 2021 through the national operation Guardião dos Biomas.

CANADIAN CRISIS – According to local authorities, this could be the worst wildfire season on record in Canada, 12 times higher than the ten-year average for this time of year. Smoke from the fires covered a large area of ​​eastern North America, causing problems even in cities like New York, United States.

The fires broke out in early June in the Canadian province of Quebec, influenced by the dry and hot climate, as well as several lightning strikes, which caused them to spread rapidly, reaching to date an area of ​​almost four million hectares.

To date, more than 20,000 people have had to be evacuated from their homes across the country and the situation remains worrying in several regions, as we are only at the start of the fire season, with an imminent risk of further fires . Firefighters from France and the United States have been called to participate in the work, which in a few days will also include the efforts of the Brazilian team, including that of Paraná.

The states of the chosen military firefighters will have no costs, since transportation and food costs will be covered by Canada in an agreement signed with the Brazilian federal government.