Canadian students help fight record wildfires during summer break – National | 24CA News
When Reese Lange was in kindergarten, she dreamed of becoming a member of the police. But it was in highschool that she realized her true calling.
The 21-year-old is now a part of a military of younger women and men, a lot of them school college students, who’re spending their summer time battling what might be one in every of Canada’s worst hearth seasons on file.
They are drawn collectively by a way of obligation and comradeship.
But the dangers they face have been introduced house final week by the loss of life in British Columbia of Devyn Gale, a nursing scholar. Aged simply 19, Gale was already in her third summer time as a wildland firefighter when she was crushed by a falling tree as her workforce battled an out-of-control blaze close to her hometown of Revelstoke within the southern Interior.
Lange is present process firefighting coaching at Lakeland College in Vermilion, central Alberta, however has already seen motion battling blazes within the province this summer time. She stated Gale’s loss of life was “devastating” however solely made her extra decided.
“I feel like it makes me want to be a firefighter more and kind of learn more so that I can protect myself and my teammates,” stated Lange.
She stated the tragedy had bonded her class of 31 scholar firefighters, underscoring their shared objectives of saving lives and watching one another’s backs.
The BC Wildfire Service stated in an announcement that it employs about 1,600 seasonal personnel every year, and a few third are post-secondary college students working throughout their summer time trip.
“As our core wildfire season happens at a time when many students have their summer break, they are often looking for work at that time. As such, 30 to 35 per cent of them would normally be expected to return to school in the fall,” stated the assertion.
Ken McMullen, president of the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs, stated “a great deal of students” are concerned in wildland firefighting.
Wildland firefighters are sometimes employed for one pay season, usually between the top of May and mid-September. He stated that in summer time months, the variety of paid wildland firefighters spikes in comparison with volunteer firefighters.
“We don’t see a big increase of volunteerism for those four months that students are back at home, away from school,” he stated.
“We do see an increase of wildland firefighters, because it’s a pay opportunity, whereas volunteering in your communities is not a pay opportunity.”
The beginning hourly wage for firefighters in B.C. ranges from $26 to $30 per hour with extra for extra time and standby hours.
But for some younger firefighters, it’s not simply in regards to the pay. It’s a calling.
Lakeland College firefighter coaching college students and workers pose on this undated handout photograph.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, Lakeland College
Lange’s classmate Mark Uwazny, 21, stated he determined to grow to be a firefighter in Grade 9 after he was concerned within the rescue of a fellow Boy Scout who had gone into thermal shock throughout a winter survival problem.
“(It was) the way that we just kind of all came together as a community to make sure that this one person got everything that they needed in a timely fashion,” stated Uwazny.
From that second on, his household anticipated him to work within the emergency companies.
Uwazny stated his household was “happy and excited” when he determined to grow to be a firefighter via Lakeland’s coaching course.
In May, Uwazny and Lange spent 5 or 6 evenings combating wildfires that burned about 62 sq. kilometres in Parkland County, west of Edmonton.
Seeing a wildfire up shut for the primary time was an “unreal and crazy” expertise, stated Lange.
Already they really feel like they’re a part of the firefighting neighborhood, and Uwazny stated the lack of Gale felt like “losing a family member.”
“In our class, there are 31 of us ? (it’s) something that could happen to one of us and there goes your family,” stated Uwazny.
But the opposite a part of being in a household is the energy of the bonds, he added.
Some younger firefighters solely final a couple of seasons. Jennifer Seguin lasted 9, on and off.
She joined the BC Wildfire Service in summer time 2005, when she was on break from finding out social work at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C.
Like Gale, she was 19 on the time. She stated news of Gale’s loss of life left her in “shock and complete devastation,” as Gale’s circumstances resonated along with her personal former life. Seguin now works in well being care in Manitoba.
“Devyn’s passing is such a tragedy as she was one of many young people doing this job ? she was headed in a direction where she was going to give back to the community as a nurse and help other people along their health journey,” stated Seguin, her voice trembling.
She stated firefighting was a tricky job of sacrifice, typically involving 16-hour days in distant places.
Seguin recalled a “scary” encounter in 2017 when her crew confronted a hearth in Princeton, B.C.
“We were one of the first crews on scene and the conditions were very dry, very hot. The wind was blowing ? and it was an intensity that required we pulled away from the fire,” she stated.
“We had to get close to understand what the nature of it was. And when we knew that there wasn’t anything we could do with the resources we had ? we pulled back.”
In addition to the intense situations, the job additionally meant lacking out on conventional summer time actions, or main life occasions like a pal’s wedding ceremony.
But it was an expertise Seguin stated she “wouldn’t trade for anything.”
“I am very grateful and privileged that I had the opportunity and that I was able to participate,” she stated.
