New Brunswick Armed Forces train to fight fires for Nova Scotia

Waiting for a call to help fight fires in the neighbouring province of Nova Scotia, troops in New Brunswick trained on Saturday to fight wildfires.

It’s a cold and rainy day at the Canadian Forces Base Gagetown, just outside Fredericton, N.B. Inside the gates, dozens of soldiers are training to fight wildfires.

The provincial government has already sent resources to Nova Scotia, where a wildfire continues to rage on. Saturday’s training could potentially direct those troops towards their maritime neighbour.

Crews started out with a water pump system that would look somewhat like one at an at-home swimming pool. Here, they’re simulating a lake where the troops would vacuum water out to fill the hoses.

Further, down the line, water hoses are spread throughout a field. Two soldiers can be seen clamping down a hose.

Water flows through the hose snaked around the back of a soldier’s neck as he helps to mitigate the pressure on the person who holds the nozzle.

It’s here that they use that water pressure on a ground line that in reality, rather than training, would be filled with fire. They’re taught to aim toward the base of the fire to extinguish the embers.

Back further in the woods, it almost looks like an assembly line, as troops dig a trench-like line, which is referred to as a “fire line,” aimed at curbing fires from advancing further.

While it may not be amongst the average kit of training for the corps, it is the same corps that responds to hurricanes, floods and other natural disasters.