Crime & Safety
Mystic Firefighter Among 19 Heading to Battle Wildfires in Quebec
A crew of private sector employees and Department of Environmental and Energy Protection staff are heading to an area in Canada that has been battling wildfires since early July.
A team of 19 firefighters, including one from Mystic, will depart to a section of northern Quebec that has been hammered by long-burning wildfires.
DEEP spokesman Cyndy Chanaca confirmed in an email that a Lyme person was among the 19 heading to Quebec, however she said DEEP does not give out names because it wants to protect the privacy of the responders while they are away.
The wildfires have been raging in an area of northern Quebec since early July, according to the CBC. Other firefighters from outside Canada have also responded, such as a team of 21 people from Massachusetts dispatched last week, according to CBS Boston.
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The crew, which will assemble at 3:30 a.m. on July 20, consists of nine DEEP employees and 10 private sector ones. They will be deployed for up to two weeks.
The crew assisting Canada is under the auspices of the Northeast Forest Fire Compact. The Compact is a mutual aid agreement between several northeastern states and Eastern Canadian Provinces.
Find out what's happening in Stonington-Mysticwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Besides Mystic, Chanaca said the responders come from the following towns: Lyme, Tolland, Killingworth, Dayville, Coventry, Middletown, Gaylordsville, Preston, North Windham, Waterbury, Chester, Trumbull, Naugatuck, Hampton, Lebanon, Chaplin, Berlin, and Glastonbury.
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