On the fire frontlines

Jerry Michell, a longtime BCWS firefigher from the Agassiz area, is one of thousands of men and women fighting wildfires across BC. Some are in helicopters, some in planes, and some in heavy equipment.

And a huge number are doing hard work with shovels and axes in rough terrain.

Michell is currently working out of Lillooet fighting the Casper Creek fire about 20km to the community’s west. The blaze has already forced the evacuation of several small communities

These images were shot Tuesday evening while Jerry fought one of the province’s most aggressive blazes.

Below, we also have insight from Vic Upshaw, a Chilliwack-based fire expert and longtime former firefighter, on the toll hard fire seasons take on crews.

Photos by Jerry Michell

Earlier this month, FVC spoke to Vic Upshaw, a Chilliwack-based cultural and prescribed fire specialist with the Frist Nations Emergency Services Society.

Upshaw is also a former firefighter and during the conversation, he spoke about how continuous bad fire seasons push crews to the brink.

Upshaw: “The fire seasons are long and they’re harder to fight fire. The work, it’s taxing mentally, physically, emotionally. Bad things happen when people get tired and overworked. Injuries increase.”

Not all of injuries are physical, he noted.

“[In the] 21st Century, we’re talking more openly about mental illness or stress and the negative impacts… It still feels weird, let’s be honest, I don’t think it’s 100% fully accepted, but there are resources available.

“A lot of my friends are still working on the crews in the zones and I talk to them regularly. Like, I remember being on the crew after a big year and then coming back the following spring and my crew telling me, for two months, ‘I haven’t recovered from last season and really hoping that it would be a slow, wet season because our energy metre was already minus—it was not at 100 per cent.

“As every fire goes, your first one, you kind of get in the groove. Your second one, you’re high-performing. The third one, now you’ve accumulated two deployments of fatigue.

“Now our crews are going back to back to back. [In a previous season] I’ve done seven deployments of two weeks or more back to back consecuitvely. That means you get three days off a month for the fire season. That’s not even factoring in life balance and mental care and physical—that’s just to get that rest, the extra meal to get the energy to get out of bed to go back to the next deployment.”

“It’s… Canada is a big land mass, but we don’t have the population of the United States. We’re trying to do more with less. I think we’re pretty good at it, as Canadians, across the country. We’re pretty resourceful, and we’re pretty good. But there is a cost.”

“I wanted to mention that on behalf of the people sacrificing out there. That fatigue and stress goes to our friends and family and the general public that worry about them, that are cooking and cleaning for them.”