A further four Forestry Corporation fire specialists have been sent to Canada to help with the nation’s wildfire emergency under a third Australian firefighter deployment.

Forestry Corporation has now sent 12 fire specialists abroad to help out on the fire fronts in Alberta, Canada.

As one of the state’s four firefighting agencies in New South Wales, Forestry Corporation is assisting the Rural Fire Service to provide relief and expertise to Canadian fire authorities, who are gripped by one of the worst wildfire seasons the country has experienced.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre reported there were 484 active fires burning, 256 of which were classified as ‘out of control.’

This season a total of 2971 wildfires have been recorded in the country, which have burnt out a total of 7.8 million hectares of land.

“These overseas deployments of Australian firefighters are about assisting our counterparts in Canada just as they assisted us during the devastating 2019/20 Black Summer bushfires,” Forestry Corporation’s Fire and Natural Hazards Manager Rebel Talbert said.

The four Forestry Corporation fire specialists involved in the third Australian deployment are Jim Potter based at Narooma, Mark Gray based at Orange and Kerryanne Cummins and Roger Davies, who are both based in Tumut.

Roger Davies started working with Forestry Corporation in 1995 as a forester in Narooma on the South Coast and has worked as part of the Tumut Management Area – Snowy Region since 2020.

From a firefighting perspective, he has undertaken many roles on the firelines as a firefighter right through to an incident management leader in planning and operations.

“I’ve done many firefighting deployments around the state, and in more recent times to the North Coast of New South Wales, but this is the first deployment overseas in a firefighting capacity and I am very excited that I can contribute to the Australian effort in Canada,” Roger said.

Kerryanne Cummins, 32, has been fire fighting for 14 years having started as a forest firefighter as an 18-year-old in Corryong, Victoria.

“It was the 2008-2009 summer, the year of the Black Saturday bushfires that set the tone for my passion in the fire industry,” Kerryanne said.

“It also taught me that skills pay the bills, that laughter is the best medicine and that there’s great satisfaction in what we achieved together.

Kerryanne serves as a specialist rappel firefighter and is no stranger to the Canadian wilderness.

“After I became trained in rappelling out of helicopters into remote bush to contain small lightning strikes, I took myself to Canada as I aspired to back-to-back summers as a seasoned fire fighter that was my dream,” Kerryanne said.

“I was employed with a contract fire crew initially and then with the BC Wildfire Service as an initial attack crew member.

“It was an eye-opener learning Canadian fire tactics and excellent to work with enthusiastic pioneering attitudes.

“After that season I came back to Australia and started working in New South Wales for Forestry Corporation. There was not a fire every second week like when I was working in Victoria, so I signed up as a volunteer with NSW Rural Fire Service to keep current.

“I soon became a RAFT (Remote Area Firefighting Team) member and enjoined responding to remote fires again. In 2017, I went to Canada as an RFS volunteer and assisted in putting out fires in Cariboo country and then in the Rocky Mountains on our second shift.

“In my eight fire seasons with Forestry Corporation I have been a very versatile member, I have been a tanker operator, a crew leader, a sector commander and I have been a strike team leader on various occasions throughout the Black Summer bushfire in 2019-2020.

“I have had excellent mentors, all men, and I am super keen to inspire young females to join the fire industry.”

Kerryanne recently shared her skills and knowledge at a Girls on Fire event in Batlow together with Fire and Rescue NSW, the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the RFS teaching local school students basic firefighting skills and courage.

Kerryanne and Roger and their colleagues will complete 40-day deployments in Canada consisting of 12-hour days serving on the firefront as arduous firefighters.

For more information about Forestry Corporation of NSW, visit forestrycorporation.com.au