Salem Firefighter To Battle Wild Blazes In Quebec

SALEM, MA — Salem firefighter James Kontoules was among 111 wildland firefighters from across the state who were headed to Quebec, Canada on Thursday as part of the state's efforts to help the province douse the wild blazes that have burned throughout the month.

Gov. Maura Healey, Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll and other state officials were part of a sendoff for the wildland firefighters Thursday in Carlisle.

The deployment is in response to a request the state Department of Recreation and Conservation 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 the ongoing fires throughout the province.

"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," Healey said at Thursday's sendoff. "We are proud of these 11 Massachusetts wildland firefighters who are heading up to assist our Canadian partners in battling these intense wildfires."

The firefighters are set to work on the fire line for two weeks building fire breaks, securing fire perimeters, containing fires and protecting structures.

"We feel the effects of the climate crisis every day from the extreme heat to droughts to the smoke polluting our air," Driscoll said. "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."

Fires have ravaged large portions of Canada this year with other large areas of wildfires burning in the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta and Nova Scotia — the smoke from which has caused intermittent haze and poor air quality across the Northeast over the past month.

All firefighters are federally certified, having passed a 40-hour federal wildland firefighting class and physical fitness test.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)