J.D. Irving on guard as N.B. fears massive wildfires due to dry forests
June 23, 2020
CANADA (From news reports) -- The government of New Brunswick and J.D. Irving Ltd. are on high alert following government-forced closures of N.B. parks and Crown land due to extremely dry forests that could cause forest fires. The province has already seen fire damage surpass its annual average.
So far in 2020, the province has reported 263 forest fires, surpassing the 10-year average of around 158 fires per year. To help battle these fires, J.D. Irving has been working to design new forest firefighting technology that can be deployed on the ground. One piece of equipment includes the conversion of a forwarder that, when finished, can carry a 9,000-litre polypropylene tank over any kind of terrain.
"I'm a forester for 12 years now, and I've never seen [these] kinds of conditions," André Landry said in a statement after a recent helicopter flight. "I've been talking to many guys with over 40 years in the forests, and they've never seen [this]. So that means the situation is very serious and we need to be ready to respond."
