VICTORIA - This weekend, 164 forest fire fighters and specialists from British Columbia will be flying to Quebec to help that province respond to fire activity in the Val d'Or and Roberval areas, Forests and Range Minister Rich Coleman announced today.

"As Canadians, it's important for us to share resources in times of need," said Coleman. "We're pleased that given current weather and fire conditions in B.C., we have the capacity to assist Quebec in fighting its forest fires.

Firefighters and specialists from across B.C. will be flying to Quebec today and Sunday for up to 19 days. Personnel being deployed include seven unit crews of 20 people each, who are dispatched to larger fires where significant resources may be needed, a 19-member incident management team, which will manage multiple fires, two fireline supervisors, one bilingual agency representative and several other personnel. Three helicopters have also been deployed.

Quebec is experiencing a warming and drying weather trend, with a lightning storm this week that caused over 100 fire starts. Firefighters in the Roberval areas are fighting two major fires that are about 2,700 and 4,700 hectares in size.

This is the third deployment of British Columbia fire crews this year, with a total of 205 crew members deployed to Ontario and Quebec in May. All deployments were co-ordinated through the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC). Costs of the deployment are being paid by the requesting provinces.

The public reports nearly half of all wildfires in B.C. Please continue to report smoke and flames by calling toll free 1-800-663-5555 or *5555 on most cellular networks.