Ottawa waived hours-of-service limits for truckers supporting wildfire response

In August 2023, Transport Canada extended hours-of-service exemptions to truck drivers supporting the emergency response to wildfires in British Columbia and Yukon. The move followed a similar exemption for drivers supporting emergency work in Alberta and the Northwest Territories.

Conditions

• Carriers using the exemption had to notify the provincial hours-of-service director in their base jurisdiction in writing, and provide details of the vehicles, plate numbers, drivers and licences involved.
• Hours still had to be recorded, and safety fitness certificates had to be valid, among other requirements.
• The exemptions were valid until Sept. 30, 2023, unless cancelled earlier in writing by the federal transport minister.

The fires

When the B.C. and Yukon exemption was announced, about 30,000 people in B.C. were under evacuation orders, including more than 10,000 in the central Okanagan. In the Northwest Territories, a fire that had forced the evacuation of Yellowknife was still about 15 kilometres from the capital.