Canada Wildfires: US To Send Real-Time Satellite, Sensor Data To Help Identify New Fires Quickly

The Biden Administration is deploying additional US Department of the Interior (DOI), USDA Forest Service (USFS), and state wildland firefighting personnel and equipment to Canada.

The United States joined in to fight against the raging wildfires in Canada as the country's Department of Defense started sending real-time satellite and sensor data to Canadian authorities on Friday. This technology it said would help them identify new fires more quickly as that nation endures one of its most destructive early wildfire seasons. US National Security Council spokesperson Adam Hodge in a statement said, that DOD personnel will analyse and share real-time data derived from US satellites and sensors and convey it via a cooperative agreement between the U.S. National Interagency Fire Center and the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. 

"Starting today, DOD personnel will analyze and share real-time data derived from U.S. satellites and sensors and convey it via a cooperative agreement between the U.S. National Interagency Fire Center and the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre," Hodge said in the statement, as quoted by news agency Reuters.

Hodge said that the Biden Administration was also deploying additional US Department of the Interior (DOI), USDA Forest Service (USFS), and state wildland firefighting personnel and equipment to Canada.

As per Reuters, the US had already sent more than 600 firefighters to Canada to help fight the flames which are causing massive destruction. US President Joe Biden, who has linked wildfires to climate change, said officials were monitoring air quality and aviation delays.

Another country that has joined the battle against wildfire is Portugal, which has sent 140 Joint Operational Force (FOCON) firefighters to Canada to help the country combat its current forest fires, the Portuguese National Authority for Emergency and Civil Protection (ANEPC) said.

The firefighters will intervene in Canada's province of Quebec in compliance with the Civil Protection Mechanism of the European Union (EU) and in partnership with 97 firefighters from Spain, according to news agency IANS. Portugal's Minister of Internal Affairs, Jose Luis Carneiro, said on Wednesday that most of the Portuguese firefighters are highly experienced volunteers.

Canada, in this wildfire season, has already lost about 4.8 million hectares (48,000 square kilometers), an area larger than the Netherlands.