U.S. to provide technology support to Canada for wildfire early warning

U.S. President Joe Biden has directed their defense department to provide technology support to Canada to more rapidly identify emerging wildfires in remote areas.

On Friday, the U.S. began sharing real-time data from their satellites and sensors via the co-operative agreement between the U.S. National Interagency Fire Center and the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.

National Security Council spokesperson Adam Hodge said in a statement Friday the initiative is built upon on the Pentagon’s FireGuard program first deployed to support U.S. wildland fire detection and suppression in 2021 and 2022.

The statement also announced new deployments of U.S. Department of the Interior, USDA Forest Service, and state wildland firefighting personnel and equipment to Canada, including airtankers and smokejumpers.