Peabody's Hallinan Deploys With Crew to Help Fight Quebec Forest Fires

Forest fires have raged across more than one million acres in the Canadian wildlands of Quebec since June, and help is now on the way from New England.

Among 15 Massachusetts wildlands firefighters who will be headed north to Quebec is Peabody's own Jonathan Hallinan. The 24-year-old graduate of Essex Aggie and North Shore Community College now works for the Bureau of Forest Fire Control under the Mass. Department of Conservation and Recreation.

DCR Commissioner Jack Murray announced Wednesday evening that a contingent of state and municipal firefighters would be joining six firefighters from Maine at Manchester Airport in New Hampshire to form a specialized hand crew before flying to Quebec.

The Bay State team consists of Hallinan and nine other DCR firefighters from Rockport to Springfield and five local firefighters from Central and Western Massachusetts.

The entire crew will fly out Thursday morning from Manchester and be assigned to one of several large fires currently burning in the northern part of Quebec.

Murray said the crew will engage in direct fire suppression and be on the fire line for about 14 days, "building fire breaks, securing fire perimeters, containing fires and protecting structures."

“We are extremely proud of the DCR and municipal firefighters who have been called upon to help our friends and partners in Quebec,” said Murray. “These are extremely well-trained and dedicated firefighters whose skills are much needed, and whose help, we know, is enormously appreciated.”

The deployment is in response to a request received Tuesday from the Northeast Forest Fire Protection Commission and the Northeastern Interagency Coordination Center in Bolton Hill, Maine.

The regional commission, which was formed in 1949, is an agreement between the six New England states, New York and four eastern Canadian provinces, including Quebec, to provide each other with mutual aid assistance on wildland fires.

Per the agreement, the state or province requesting the aid picks up the tab for all out-of-state crews, including salary, transportation, lodging and food.

The DCR Bureau of Forest Fire Control partners with the U.S. Forest Service as well and has been sending crews out across the country and to Quebec since 1985.

The DCR says all firefighters who are deployed are federally certified for this type of work, having passed a wildland training class and physical fitness test.