Misinformation spreads about US aid to Canadian firefighting
- Published on August 3, 2026 at 18:39
- 3 min read
- By Manon JACOB, AFP Canada, AFP USA
Misinformation swirled online about American aid to Canada's wildfire-fighting efforts as US President Donald Trump threatened new tariffs over the blazes, which spewed smoke across North America. Some posts misrepresented an outdated press release to falsely claim 2,000 Americans went to Canada to help battle the fires, while others alleged that the United States had offered no help when, in reality, some US firefighters were sent to Quebec under regional initiatives.
"Over 2,000 US firefighters have been on the front lines fighting our wildfires since May, yet Carney offers zero acknowledgement or thanks," said a July 25 Facebook post, referencing Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Similar posts spread across X and TikTok in July sharing the same image, a screenshot of a press release headlined: "US firefighters continue to support Canada during record-breaking wildfires."
Conversely, other posts criticizing the United States claimed the country provided no help at all.
"Oh, how many firefighters did the US send (Canada)??" said one post on Bluesky. "I know; Zero."
The historically friendly US-Canada relationship has been on the rocks over tariff policies Trump has instituted since returning to the White House. Tensions spiked again in July 2026 when the president called for a new 50 percent tariff on Canadian goods and threatened additional levies over the impact of Canadian wildfire smoke drifting into the United States.
AFP has repeatedly fact-checked false claims about the two two North American neighbors' trade relations and diplomacy, as well as Canada's wildfires.
Neither of the claims about American firefighting support for Canada accurately represent the response to the July 2026 fires.
Misrepresented 2023 press release
The posts claiming a deployment of 2,000 American firefighters misrepresent a press release that is old and unrelated.
Through keyword searches, AFP found the press release came from the US National Interagency Fire Center and covered American aid sent during Canada's historically devastating wildfire season in 2023 -- not in 2026 (archived here).
A communications officer with the US Wildland Fire Service confirmed to AFP in a July 30 email that there have been "no cross-border wildfire deployments between the United States and Canada under national cooperative agreements at this time, and no formal requests have been made."
No official government sources from the United States or Canada had reported 2,000 US firefighters crossing the border to reinforce Canadian crews as of August 3.
Still, Canadian officials emphasized the importance of working with the United States.
Soraya Lemur, press secretary for the Canadian Minister of Emergency Management and Community Resilience, told AFP in a July 30 email that "both countries remain in regular contact regarding the evolving wildfire situation" (archived here).
Global Affairs Canada spokeswoman Charlotte MacLeod added in a July 31 email that "both countries benefit from regular coordination and information sharing to assess risks and allocate firefighting resources."
Regional aid
The posts claiming the United States provided no assistance to Canada's wildfire fight also go too far, however.
Stéphane Caron, chief information officer of Quebec province's wildfire management agency SOPFEU, said in a July 29 email that such assertions were "not accurate, at least with respect to Quebec."
On July 17, Quebec welcomed 18 firefighters from the northeast US states of Maine, Connecticut and New Hampshire to reinforce SOPFEU's crews, he said (archived here and here).
The reinforcement, Caron said, happened due to an established international mutual aid agreement that brings together the Eastern Canadian provinces and the New England states (archived here, here and here).
"Its purpose is to allow member jurisdictions to rapidly share qualified personnel and specialized resources whenever wildfire activity exceeds the capacity of a single agency," he said.
But he added: "Typically, the largest resource deployments come from the US federal government rather than from individual states. This year, Canada has received very little assistance from the United States."
Cross-border assistance occurs when requested and when resources are available, several US federal agencies told AFP.
Read more AFP fact-checks about the wildfires in Canada here.
Copyright © AFP 2017-2026. Any commercial use of this content requires a subscription. Click here to find out more.
Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.
Contact us
