Canada offering more aid to Australia to combat bushfires burn

​#AustraliaFires; #InternationalFirefightingCommunity; #ClimateChange; 

Ottawa, Jan 09 (Canadian-Media): Nearly 100 Canadian fire experts to fight against one of the worst wildfires of Australia had been sent by Canada with Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promise to his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison Wednesday that Canada was ready to do more, media reports said.

Australia Fires. Image credit: Twitter handle

A spokesperson for Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne said all Australia has requested so far is more people.

"Whenever there are catastrophic wildfires, other countries are willing to help," Karen Hodges, a University of British Columbia biology professor said.

Australian firefighters, alongside Americans, Mexicans and New Zealanders, came to Canada in 2018 to help British Columbia beat back the worst fire season that province has ever seen.

This season 97 Canadians along with 159 Americans and others from New Zealand had been deployed to Australia to help combat fires.

"I cannot underscore enough that in making this long journey you've brought hope and reassurance to these people," said Angela Bogdan, the Canadian consul general in Australia.

Thank you @DavidElliottMP for comin to farewell the first deployment of Canadian fire fighting specialists. Lessons were learned, expertise shared, and a profound commitment reinforced to work together in combatting the devastation of #bushfires #wildfires in both our countries. https://t.co/vMwzepnISj

— Angela Bogdan (@CGAngelaBogdan) January 8, 2020

Officials in Australia say 25 people have been killed and more than half a billion animals have perished in the fires.
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Climate change is largely to blame for an increase in fire risk, said environment experts.