Bonny Hills' Matt Model and Wauchope's Jamie Harris join Canada's wildfire fight

One has only just returned from winning gold at the World Military Rowing Championships in the UK.

East Timor veteran Matt Model of Bonny Hills', who is also an Invictus Games champion, won the 500m, 1km and 2km rowing events for competitors aged between 30 and 39 years.

Now he and Wauchope's Jamie Harris are among six Forestry Corporation firefighters to join Australia's latest deployment to Canada.

In a statement provided by the Forestry Corporation, Model said he had only just landed in Sydney from the UK when he got the call.

"The message [was] from the fire branch that a second deployment to Canada was happening and I jumped at the chance," he said.

The 49-strong contingent leaving on Wednesday, June 7, also includes members of the Rural Fire Service (RFS), the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPPWS), and Fire and Rescue NSW.

Another local forestry specialist, Wauchope's Mark Drury, is already on the ground.

Mr Model said he expects a lot of challenges and "different dynamics to the way we fight fires here in Australia.

"I've heard from some of our guys over there already that it involves a lot of arduous activity."

Australia has sent 220 firefighters and incident controllers to assist Canadian authorities as they battle more than 2200 fires across 3.3 million hectares of land.

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