The Mid Coast Rural Fire District manager was co-ordinating and providing help where possible to the Larne Complex fires in Alberta.

“On July 5 the Canadian government sent a message to the Australian government they needed assistance in incident management so a group of 105 of us flew out on July 13 to go and help,” he said.

He said while it had been a successful trip so far it had also been extremely challenging.

“There was four different fires covering about 20,000 hectares in total,” he said.

“I’ve done complex fires in Port Macquarie, Kempsey and Walcha as recently as last year, so we knew what we had to do, but it was still challenging.”

Once they arrived they were split into two groups - a group of 46 were sent to Alberta with the rest were sent to British Columbia.

“When we got here they said they were having what was called a once in 50 year fire season because their winter had lower snowfall which didn’t assist with their drought codes,” Supt Baker said.

Three of the fires have been downgraded to patrol status and Supt Baker and his crew were preparing to hand them back to locals to monitor until the snow came.

“What I’ve learnt over there is they don’t fight fires differently, it’s just the processes which they use are different,” he said.

“It’s been one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had and being the first Australians to go into Alberta as an incident controller. A bit of a pioneer you could say.

He said what would turn out to be a five or six-week stint away from their families was extremely challenging.

“You feel that disconnection from home especially when you spend two weeks in a self-sufficient area. I’m looking forward to returning home.”