The Season So Far: Fitness to FireSmarting
To work as a wildland firefighter in Canada you must complete a yearly fitness test called the WFX-Fit test. It’s a time-sensitive test created to assess your endurance and ability to carry heavy weights over difficult terrain. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the job, the test favours the tall and those of us who […]
Practice Makes Perfect!
After a long and cold winter, everyone on the Edson Unit Crew has been counting down the days to the start of the wildfire season. Generally, Unit Crews work on larger, sustained action fires. We are also tasked with a wide range of other duties though, including being used as an initial action resource on wildfires, […]
Away From the Fireline
Hello and welcome back – my name is Josh and this summer I will be giving you a window into the daily life of a firefighter in the field. It has been a long, dry winter and I am very excited to be back in the field doing what I love. Do you ever wonder […]
Return to Rappel
Can you feel the excitement? I can. We all love the winter. It’s a great chance for wildfire members to rejuvenate and energize after a long summer on the fireline, but eventually we all find ourselves longing for those days in the woods again. Every year the Alberta Wildfire Rappel program trains and re-certifies approximately […]
Firefighter in the Field
As if returning from a long hibernation, I pull into Grayling Firebase, just south of Fort McMurray. It is April 3 and there is still snow on the ground, much more than there was in Toronto when I left four days earlier. I am warmly met by some of my friends and colleagues who come […]
Alberta Wildfire 