LA GRANDE — More than 440 wildfires are actively burning across nine provinces and two territories in Canada, and firefighters from the United States, including Union County, have been deployed to the north.

The Union Hotshots, based in La Grande, has deployed its full crew of 20 personnel, along with an additional individual from a neighboring crew. The firefighters on Thursday, June 1, were ordered to report to Nisku, Alberta, Canada, by June 8, according to Joseph Black, a public affairs specialist at the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest.

The crew drove their rigs up to Canada on June 7 and arrived the following day.

Black said it was uncertain which fire the Union Hotshots would be assigned to, and the firefighters could be moved around based on need.

It was expected, Black said, the hotshots would be involved in standard suppression tactics, direct fire line construction, mop-up, patrol and burnout operations.

Since May 8, the U.S. has mobilized approximately 650 personnel to Alberta and the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. The deployed total includes 27 fire suppression crews and 41 individual overhead and four incident management teams. Currently, not including resources returning to the U.S., there are 13 fire suppression crews, seven overhead and one incident management team aiding the effort in Canada.   

As of Tuesday, June 13, 12,617,779 acres had burned in wildfires across Canada this year, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.

The Washington Post reported that between June 6-13, the area burned grew markedly in several provinces: Quebec added more than 1,779,158 acres; British Columbia, 815,447 acres; and Alberta, 543,631 acres.