FORT KENT – Twenty Maine firefighters left Thursday morning to assist Canadian firefighters with forest fires burning near the James Bay area of northern Quebec.

The men are the second crew of Maine firefighters sent to Quebec in the past month.

The crew of eight Maine Forest Service rangers and 12 civilian firefighters will be in the Canadian province for a maximum of two weeks.

Five of the rangers, led by Michael Daigle of Portage, are bilingual and will assist French-speakers of Quebec to work with the English-speaking firefighters from Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.

They will be battling as many as 40 major fires in the northern reaches of the province, 14 hours by bus north of Quebec City.

The fires were started by lightning strikes, said Jim Downie, spokesman for the Maine Forest Service. The area has not received much rain over the summer and the woods are dry tinder.

Last month, 20 Maine firefighters fought fires in the Lac-St.-Jean area of northern Quebec. They were fighting up to 57 forest fires in the area. Many camps and homes were lost in that effort. No Maine firefighters were injured, Downie said.

Downie said the crew that left Thursday included mostly men from northern Maine, but there were firefighters from central Maine.

Quebec has also requested assistance, including aircraft, from other western Canada provinces.

Maine is a founding member of the Northeast Forest Fire Protection Commission, which combines the resources of all New England states, New York, as well as Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The group was formed after devastating fires in 1947.

Downie also said that District Forest Ranger Jeffrey Currier of Jonesboro is assigned to fire suppression duties in Alaska.