The firefighting force promised by Portugal to help Canada with the hundreds of forest fires raging across the country set off this morning, from Lisbon’s Figo Maduro military airbase. The men and women making up FOCON (standing for Joint Operational Force) come from ANEPC (the civil protection authority), FEPC (the civil protection special force), GNR police, the ICNF (forestries commission), firefighting corps and INEM (medical emergency). They were waved off by minister for interior administration José Luís Carneiro, in the company of secretaries of State for Civil Protection (Patrícia Gaspar) and Conservation for Nature and Forests (João Paulo Catarino).
140 firefighting professionals leave Portugal for Canada
Firefighters near Fort St. John, British Columbia, on Sunday. Credit...Kamloops Fire Rescue, via Reuters
