Johannesburg – Canada will be receiving the aid of 301 South African firefighters who will assist the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) with their fire suppression efforts at the province of Alberta.

"CIFFC have sent a formal request for assistance to their international partners including Working on Fire," according to a statement from Working on Fire.

"This deployment of wildland firefighters is the biggest South African deployment ever outside of the army to assist a foreign country.”

Firefighters will be leaving on Sunday on a Canadian Airways plane chartered by Canada.

"There are a number of priority fires that require human resources especially the Fort McMurray, Alberta fire with more than of 500 000 hectares already burnt,” it said.

In April, Working on Fire held a deployment boot camp in Gauteng to prepare 400 South African firefighters for deployment and to meet international standards.

Working on Fire said it has been praised for its Integrated Fire Management services and products which were successfully implemented in Chile and Australia.

“We are proud of our South African firefighters from our Working on Fire programme and we no doubt believe that they will do us proud to provide these essential services to Canada.”