To the Manitoba Film Community,
Over our 25 years as a dedicated film industry training organization, Film Training Manitoba has been fortunate to work and have long-standing friendships with many film industry professionals who are being affected by the Southern California wildfires. We want to take time to recognize the challenges that many are facing and acknowledge our deepest gratitude to the firefighters, paramedics, law enforcement, and emergency responders for their bravery and sacrifice.
According to a news release by the Government of Canada, Canada is providing a wide collection resources to assist which includes CL-415 waterbomber (also known as SuperScoopers), Canadian firefighters, incident command personnel, senior technical staff and a wide variety of other personnel.
Canada continues to coordinate efforts with Provinces and Territories to line up all available resources to help the people of California. Canadian agencies continue to work closely with the United States Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the NICC, the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, and the City of Los Angeles to respond to requests and determine how best to assist in the response and recovery efforts.
In addition to the supports listed above, specific commitments Canada has offered include:
- The Canadian Armed Forces remains on standby with air transport capabilities to deploy provincial/civilian firefighting personnel and equipment.
- The Canadian Coast Guard continues to work with partners to offer support and to explore available resources, such as Incident Command resources that could be deployed to assist the response, if requested.
- CIFFC and Natural Resources Canada are working closely with the NICC and provincial/territorial authorities to continue building on our response by identifying more resources that can be deployed to support the response, including aircraft.
- Parks Canada has offered wildland firefighting resources, including a Type 1 wildfire personnel, incident command personnel, structural protection equipment, and other firefighting equipment.
- Transport Canada is ready to provide one National Aerial Surveillance Program (NASP) aircraft for fire mapping and hot spot detections and also prepared to deploy a Canadian liaison officer in any fire operational headquarters should the NASP aircraft be deployed.
If you are looking for ways to support or donate to those affected and the first responders working tirelessly to keeping others safe, consider donating to organizations providing critical aid:
Donate to the American Red Cross
Donate to The Salvation Army of Southern California
Donate to World Central Kitchen
FTM is a non-for-profit charity and member of the Province of Manitoba’s Sector Council program funded through the Economic Development, Investment, Trade and Natural Resources. FTM builds a highly skilled and adaptable film industry workforce to support the activities of Manitoba production companies. FTM collaborates and partners with members of the film industry to identify training needs to support workforce development.