When wildfire season heats up, smokejumpers dive into the thick of the action
CBC Radio | Posted: August 5, 2019 8:00 AM | Last Updated: August 5, 2019
'It's an exciting way to get to work,' says James Bergen of the North Peace Smokejumpers
When fires spark in some of the most inaccessible swaths of Canadian wilderness, elite firefighters known as smokejumpers are called into action.
Smokejumpers parachute out of planes to quickly reach fire sites that do not have roads or bridges for traditional ground-based fire crews, suppressing them before they grow out of control.
"Yeah, it's an exciting way to get to work," James Bergen, wildfire officer for the North Peace Smokejumpers, told CBC Radio's Adrienne Lamb.
"There's very few jobs out there that you get to wake up in the morning and not really, honestly, know where you're going to be that afternoon."
According to the North Peace Smokejumpers' website, the practice of sending firefighters into remote locations by fixed-wing aircraft began in the United States in the 1930s.
Canada's first smokejumping squad was founded in 1949 in La Ronge, Sask., and featured in a 1964 episode of CBC's 20/20.
Today there are two active smokejumper teams in Canada, with a total of 59 members: The North Peace Smokejumpers in Fort St. John, B.C., and the Omenicia in Mackenzie, B.C.
Members of the B.C. Wildfire Service who wish to enlist must have at least one year of firefighting experience under their belt before taking a two-week training course to learn how to jump out of planes and rapidly deploy once on the ground.
It's actually 'crazily safe,' says Bergen
The North Peace Smokejumpers don heavy heat-resistant Kevlar suits and deploy in teams of up to 13 aboard a DC-3 or DHC-6 plane.
Spotters accompany the team aboard the plane to scout out the safest landing spot, Bergen says.
Team members then leap out of the plane, at an altitude of about 1,500 feet, landing near the site of the fire.
The 60 to 90 seconds they spend in the air provide a moment of serenity before they land in the drop zone and get to work.
"It's really noisy inside the aircraft while you're standing or sitting in the door. The moment you exit it's only noisy for a second or two — then, it's quiet," said Bergen.
Despite the dramatic descent, Bergen describes it as "crazily safe," adding that there are redundancies built into the system.
Cargo drops carrying gear, such as hoses, water pumps and chainsaws, arrive shortly afterward.
On the ground, smokejumpers always work in teams of three.
Bergen says most deployments last between two to four days but can stretch out to a couple of weeks depending on how long it takes to get a fire under control.
Teams are equipped with first aid, tents and sleeping bags for long deployments.
Fewer wildfires in B.C., but season isn't over
Bergen says B.C. fire crews managed to suppress most wildfires in B.C. before they flare out of control.
"In the last couple of years here, it's those six per cent of fires that got extremely large," he estimated.
"But in the meantime, I mean, we're already over a thousand fires in British Columbia this year, and no one's even heard of them." He credits that to 2019 being a relatively wetter year than in years past.
However, B.C. recently experienced two record-breaking wildfire seasons in a row, and numerous fires have already torched swaths of the north and interior.
This year, Bergen says the North Peace Smokejumpers have been deployed to suppress more fires outside of B.C., including in Alberta, Yukon, Ontario and Alaska.
However, Mike Flannigan, a professor of wildland fire at the University of Alberta, cautions that regions like B.C. are more prone to fires in August.
He says 2019's wildfire season has been "average," but certain regions have seen more activity than usual.
"It's been very active in locations like Alberta, where we're [in] the second-busiest fire season in the last 50 years," he said.
Taylor Stuart, unit supervisor of the B.C. Wildfire Service's Rhino Unit, saw the fires at their strongest during multiple deployments in Alberta this year, including the muskegg boglands this past spring.
The Rhino Unit frequently works in tandem with the North Peace Smokejumpers on the ground, and take over if a fire grows too big for the smokejumpers to suppress.
"We watched the fires grow almost 100,000 hectares in a day, which I don't think has happened in Canada many times, if ever," he said.
"We experienced in our tour in Alberta, kind of drier northern conditions than we've ever experienced."
Exposure to wildfire smoke
Sarah Henderson, a senior scientist with the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, says the province is starting to conduct studies to learn what communities are being exposed to the most smoke, and whether they might have any adverse health effects.
In the meantime, she advises that most people won't suffer more than some minor discomfort with short-term exposure to smoke.
"I like everybody to protect themselves from wildfire smoke but there's certain populations who really should take extra care: anybody with pre-existing respiratory or cardiovascular conditions, [or] even conditions like diabetes," she said.
Even with protective gear and specialized training, smokejumpers must also do whatever they can to avoid being engulfed by smoke.
Bergen says smokejumpers usually tackle a fire at its tail, rather than its head, to avoid billowing smoke.
"It does affect your ability to perform or breathe. But we try our very best to stay out of that heavy wall of smoke."
With 17 years and counting as a smokejumper, Bergen has now mostly transitioned into a management role. He still tries to get into the field at least once a year, however.
"When the fire … gong goes off, whatever other stuff you're working on — paperwork or, you know, people's time diaries or the hum of government — that all gets to be stopped and you get to go do ... what it is you really love."
Written by Jonathan Ore with files from Amara McLaughlin. Produced by Adrienne Lamb and Wallis Snowdon.