Western Cape Firefighting Team Ready To Assist Australia In Battling Wildfires

A 40-member team of firefighters is ready to assist Australia battle raging wildfires.

The Western Cape government offered to help the country fight unprecedented bushfires that had already claimed the lives of 24 people.

News reports indicated that nearly 2,000 homes have also been destroyed.

Local Government MEC Anton Bredell said that the province’s offer was well-received but Australia said that immediate assistance was not needed at the moment.

Bredell’s spokesperson James-Brent Styan said that over the past ten years, the province had built up a highly experienced network of firefighters.

“We’ve all been shocked by the severity of the fires in Australia and we felt where we can make a difference, we’ll certainly try to do so. In the Western Cape, we also combat wildfires quite often, on average about 12,000 wildfires per year, although nowhere near the scale of the fires in Australia.”

EWN