Bears pose added risk to firefighting

Kevin Ihaka beside one of the helicopters that takes him for a survey of the fire damage every morning. Photo / Supplied

Firefighting teams including two Northlanders battling a large blaze in Canada are keeping a close eye on another hazard on the ground - a bear roaming near their makeshift tents.

A black bear footprint was discovered near Whangarei firefighter Kevin Ihaka's tent in High Level two, north of Alberta state, but he said bears were common in the area.

Mr Ihaka and Diane Sanderson from Dargaville are among 16 rural firefighters from New Zealand who flew out of Auckland last week for a 35-day assignment in Alberta, where raging fires have torn through more than 800,000 hectares of forest. The Northland duo are based just south of Wood Buffalo National Park in northeast Alberta.

Mr Ihaka said he camped in trees as he normally pitched his tent far away to escape noisy generators. But, he said the bear's footprint was found early yesterday morning (New Zealand time) near where he had initially set up his tent.

"We have all had training regarding animal encounters including bears. Hopefully we never have to try it out. Apparently you don't run away. We've been told to be careful and not to leave food scraps because that's what attracts them."

Mr Ihaka said most of the firefighters had packed up their tents and were now sleeping in huts, which was a bit of a relief.

The scale of the fire, he said, was still hard to believe.

He is the operations' section chief and is responsible for tactics and assignment of resources. Ms Sanderson is the head of logistics and is responsible for ordering all resources needed for a large fire.

Their team is managing four fires called the Birch Complex totalling about 83,000ha spread across about 200sq km some 100km away from their base.

He said there was no vehicle access to all the fires so the crews and resources were flown by helicopter daily.

"Unlike other fires where I am used to being issued with the keys of a vehicle on arrival, at this fire I was allocated a helicopter."

Mr Ihaka's day starts with a flight of more than an hour over the fire at 7am to view changes overnight and to confirm the plan for the day.

"By 8.30 we are flying the crews out to work, with the last crews sometimes not getting to their work sites until after 10am despite a fleet of 13 helicopters operating."

He said sleeping was very difficult, with daylight until after 11pm and sunrise around 4.30am.

Firefighters from Australia, the United States and several Canadian provinces are also helping out.