Foreign firefighters fight flames, fatigue and get 'eaten alive' by mosquitoes
CTV
For some other firefighters, their trip to Canada has yielded a front-row view to infernos of a magnitude few of them had ever seen.
Eighteen-year-old Hunter Sousa from Maine celebrated his high school graduation by hopping in a truck and heading to Nova Scotia to fight the biggest forest fire in the province's history.
Sousa works for the Maine forest service as an on-call firefighter, but had never before fought a fire. The call from his superior came on a Thursday.
"They said they'd be meeting in Bangor Friday night and I had my graduation Friday night, so I graduated and got my diploma, and headed to Bangor and met with the rest of the crew, and then we headed to Nova Scotia," he said in a recent interview.
Sousa is one of the many foreign firefighters who were pressed into service as Canada battles its worst wildfire season in recent memory. Hailing from 10 different countries on five continents, they've been battling flames, fatigue and mosquitoes during stints of 14 consecutive days or more in unfamiliar conditions.
In Sousa's case, his main duty at the Barrington Lake fire, in Nova Scotia's southwest, consisted of mapping the extent of the fire by walking around the edge of the burned sector -- called the "black" -- and marking the perimeter in an app on his phone, as well as putting out the occasional hot spot.
For some other firefighters, their trip to Canada has yielded a front-row view to infernos of a magnitude few of them had ever seen.
Eric Flores, the head of a team of more than 100 French firefighters dispatched to Quebec, says the fires are far larger -- and more challenging -- than what he usually sees at home.
SpaceX on Tuesday launched another Starship rocket, but passed up catching the booster with giant mechanical arms.
Caring for a senior pet is no walk in the park, especially when the pet can't walk at all. A Colorado woman was shocked to find her dog's wheelchair missing from the porch Tuesday morning
New York City on Monday issued its first drought warning in 22 years after months of little rain -- and will restart the flow of drinking water from an out-of-service aqueduct as supplies run low.
Six monkeys were still on the loose early Monday after dozens escaped earlier this month from a South Carolina compound that breeds the primates for medical research, according to authorities.
Hundreds of organic baby- and toddler-sized rompers sold by an Ontario-based sustainable clothing company have been recalled over concerns they could catch fire and injure children, according to Health Canada.
Joe Biden toured the drought-shrunken waters of the Amazon River’s greatest tributary Sunday as the first sitting American president to set foot in the legendary rainforest.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating an E. coli outbreak in at least 18 states linked to some organic carrots, which has led to at least one death.
Tropical storm Sara drenches Honduras’ northern coast, with flash flooding and mudslides in forecast
Tropical storm Sara stalled over Honduras on Saturday. The area could see life-threatening flash flooding and mudslides through the weekend.
It's a growing trend online: fragrance influencers who rave about the beauty, sexiness and notes of vanilla in perfume have caught the attention of Canadian teenagers who are, in turn, flocking to cologne counters across the country.
The Edmonton Valley Zoo is debuting two red panda cubs named after the mischievous twin wizards in the "Harry Potter" series.
While it remains small compared to established online spaces such as X, Bluesky has emerged as an alternative for those looking for a different mood, lighter and friendlier and less influenced by Musk.