Saskatchewan to get military help to fight wildfires

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

REGINA, Saskatchewan (AP) — Close to 1,000 Canadian military personnel are on their way to help fight wildfires in the western Canadian province of Saskatchewan where thousands of residents have been evacuated.

Duane McKay, commissioner of emergency management with the province, said Sunday that he military will bolster their ability to fight the fires. Provincial officials say about 741,000 acres (300,000 hectares) ares burning in Saskatchewan this year — around 10 times what's normal.

The Alberta government is preparing to receive up to 5,000 people evacuated from La Ronge, Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan officials say 1,136 had registered in La Ronge and were transported to Cold Lake, Alberta, on Saturday night, while thousands of others were traveling out of the community on their own and would likely stay with friends or family.

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/4f0f53dfb17748848ce77570fa1bbeec/saskatchewan-get-military-help-fight-wildfires

[shenmue]

1. Just heard about that

Everybody be careful.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

2. Finally... a useful deployment of our military.

make us proud defending our homeland against nature's ravages, vs politically invented extremists in the mid east.

[timdog44]

3. At the risk of sounding like a teen

why can not the USA send troops to the provinces to help in the fighting of the fires. It affects this country too. And in the process we would be real neighbors and friends. Put our military to good use instead of fighting fake wars in middle eastern countries who 1)don't like us and 2)don't want us to be there. And if we are going to sacrifice our youth, let it be for a friend.

[HassleCat]

4. Military on fire assigment

I have been on numerous fires where the military was called in. The best are the National Guard, because they all have real jobs, life experience, maturity, etc. Some of them even have previous fire experience. The regular Army personnel are OK, but they're a little younger, and they would rather be somewhere else after a couple days. The Marines are just funny. When they first arrive, they're all pumped up, yelling those chants they have memorized, pumping fists in the air, the whole deal. After a 16 hour day digging fire line, they come back to camp complaining, and they're pretty much done. Unless their sergeants are looking directly at them, they sneak off and smoke cigarettes, take naps, etc. I guess they figure they're trained killers, and fighting fire is dull.