Australian and New Zealand firefighters have been on the ground in Canada since 2 June 2025. In total, 352 personnel filling Incident Management Teams, fire ground leadership and arduous crew roles have joined local and international resources across Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, battling Canada’s second worst fire season on record.

For the third year in a row, the AFAC National Resource Sharing Centre (NRSC) has coordinated the deployment of Australian and New Zealand agency personnel to Canada. An early start to the fire season and significant fire activity in provinces that are not usually prone to large and long duration landscape fire, prompted Canadian agencies to reach out to their international partners through the Canadian Forest Fire Centre.

Firefighters from Australia and New Zealand have joined their counterparts from the US, Mexico, Brazil, Costa Rica and Chile, working to protect communities and their livelihoods through this challenging season.

The last teams are due home on 18 September, which will complete 109 consecutive days of deployment management for the AFAC NRSC and Resource Managers Group, the key link to national capacity, working alongside AFAC and agencies to ensure local capacity is maintained while we support our international partners.

Feedback from crews and teams is that the work is relentless, following the usual deployment peaks and troughs of fire activity as weather fronts move through. There are strong links being made with local communities and other agencies, and members are reporting many growth opportunities.