Riley Moskaluk, 29, a veteran wildland firefighter, says fire in a dry forest can turn on you in mere seconds, with just one tree’s flames suddenly leaping from treetop to treetop, creating a blazing wall of heat.evacuated High Level, Alta., he suddenly saw a single tree consumed by flames and started to run. Minutes later, behind him, a wide swath of woods had turned into a 25-metre high inferno.
“What’s happening is a system and an organization that is not ready for the pressures climate change is exerting upon it,” he said in an interview. “The fire regime is changing literally before our eyes.… It’s not the same animal that it was in 1990.” Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry has offered up to $5,000 in extra pay this year, and is hiring 100 permanent staff. The province has alsowildland firefighters the same coverage as regular firefighters if they develop cancer, heart problems or post-traumatic stress disorder. So far this season, Ontario says it has has recruited more than 600 wildland firefighters, within what it says is its target range of 400 to 800.
But James Gault, executive vice-president of the Alberta Union of Public Employees, said even if the government hits this goal it still faces a turnover rate of more than 50 per cent, and the problems that come with that. With 1,300 seasonal staff, the province will have more “initial attack crews” than last year, and 500 permanent staff, a number that has gone up 55 per cent since 2021.