CONWAY — As smoke from Canadian wildfires has drifted into Franklin County throughout the last month, one Franklin County resident has gotten a first-hand look at the blazes, while another has recently been deployed.

Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) and Conway firefighter Robin Armstrong was sent to Quebec alongside 10 counterparts to help contain the wildfires that have raged throughout the province for the past few months. On July 5, New Salem resident Joseph Nawrocki also was deployed to Quebec with 15 other firefighters.

Armstrong, a 12-year veteran of DCR’s seasonal firefighting team, has flown around the United States and Canada for years as agencies have requested both domestic and international help in quelling fires that span thousands of hectares. He said the fires he was deployed to this year have been “significantly bigger” than those he saw the last time he fought fires up north.

“The last time I was in Canada, that was in 2018, I think that was about 5,000 hectares, which was quite a big fire for Quebec,” Armstrong recalled, noting these most recent fires have been about 17,000 hectares. “It’s kind of what’s happening nowadays and it doesn’t seem to be a problem that’s going away anytime soon.”

Armstrong and his fellow crew members were sent to La Touque, Quebec, where they were assigned to different fire incidents throughout the province. When firefighters are sent by the state to fight fires, they typically spend about 14 days before returning, according to DCR.

This year’s wildfire season has burned at least 8.8 million hectares of land — approximately 27.7 million acres, or an area the size of Virginia — and has already exceeded the record of 7.6 million hectares burned in 1989, according to the Associated Press.

Fighting these enormous wildfires, Armstrong said, is a different beast than the brush fires encountered in Franklin County and Massachusetts. The changes are apparent even before firefighters are on scene because these fires are often in remote areas of wilderness that are inaccessible by land vehicles, meaning firefighters are often dropped off by helicopter.

Approximately 3,790 Canadian firefighters have been deployed, while another 3,250 firefighters from around the world have joined the effort, according to the Associated Press.

The ecosystem itself is often different, too, which means the “fuel type” is more conducive to spreading wildfires. Armstrong noted black spruce trees and different mosses are what firefighters typically come across in northern Canada.

“These fires have potential to get very big, very fast,” he said.

When he was first sent to Quebec, Armstrong said his group’s role was responding to fires that were already contained and working with a helicopter crew equipped with a thermal scanner to find spots that were still burning. He and his crew were then sent to a more active scene where they took on the role of knocking down the edges of fires to contain them.

“I think it’s pretty great. It’s a different experience,” Armstrong said, adding that his deployment through DCR is a chance to see firefighting tactics that aren’t typically used in Massachusetts fire control.

On top of seeing a different type of firefighting, Armstrong said it’s fulfilling to help out our northern neighbors — or fellow states when he’s sent out west — and work with other DCR personnel he doesn’t typically interact with.

“At some point, they may have to come down and help us,” Armstrong said of working in Canada. Regarding DCR personnel, he added, “We’re all part of the same agency, but we don’t necessarily work together on a daily basis. … It’s great to build that team cohesion.”

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com or 413-930-4081. Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.

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