"Bless Every One Of Them": South African Firefighters Sing, Dance In Canada

A video of a group of firefighters from South Africa singing and dancing in Canada has gone viral. The firefighters have been deployed to the country to help douse the wildfires that have displaced many and burned millions of hectares of land in Canada.

The video, shared on Facebook, shows jubilant firefighting personnel in uniform holding the South African flag and doing their traditional dance while singing.

“For the last two days we have had firefighters from South Africa. This was the coolest thing I have seen yet,” the caption read.

The firefighters were earlier pictured dancing after landing in Edmonton last week. In a video shared by Working On Fire on Twitter, the personnel can be seen dancing, clapping, and singing inside the airport carrying their luggage.

#2023WoFCanadianDeployment
Song and dance from #MZANZI1 as they arrive in Edmonton, Canada.#MZANZI1@environmentza@CIFFC@epwpza@kishugu pic.twitter.com/alj2IEnkuJ

— Working on Fire (@wo_fire) June 4, 2023

Many users reacted to the video of dancing firefighters.

“Always so happy, and good to have help from my old country with the horrible fires here. Thank you for coming,” a person wrote.

Always so happy, and good to have help from my old country with the horrible fires here. Thank you @MZANZI1 for coming.

— Marian (@G_Marian_17) June 4, 2023

Another said, “Thanks for coming and helping out in Canada! Love the joyful musical arrival too!”

Thanks for coming and helping out in Canada! Love the joyful musical arrival too!

— Susan Padget (@s_padget) June 4, 2023

“Bless every one of them. I'm sorry we had to call, but so so grateful they answered,” a comment read.

Bless every one of them. I'm sorry we had to call, but so so grateful they answered. ❤️

— FN-2187 (@RA98394217) June 4, 2023

“Goosebumps and tears. Love them -- love them for coming and love their style,” a user wrote.

Goosebumps and tears. Love them -- love them for coming and love their style. ????

— Ms Doe (@pgoodfellow) June 4, 2023

“This brings “whistle while you work” to a whole new level!!! :). Beautiful,” a person commented.

This brings “whistle while you work” to a whole new level!!! :). Beautiful

— Christine DuMoulin (@ChristineDu4) June 5, 2023

According to Working On Fire, a program funded by South Africa's Department of Environmental Affairs, 200 firefighters and 15 management arrived in Canada to combat the widfires.  

The smoke from wildfires in Canada has turned the skies in New York yellow and triggered air quality alerts in cities along the US East Coast. The fires have displaced over 20,000 people and scorched around 3.8 million hectares of land in Canada.