Firefighters battling an unprecedented wildfire season are receiving mental health support after the deaths of three firefighters and a helicopter pilot.
Hundreds of active wildfires are burning across Canada, including 354 in British Columbia,195 in the Northwest Territories and 105 in Alberta, as of Friday. All four deaths were in those three regions, all in the last few weeks.
“I think this will have a range of impacts on how it affects the crews and how it impacts everyone working in wildfire,” said Laura Creighton, staff development officer for the B.C. Wildfire Service (BCWS), about the deaths.
“Anecdotally, it has been a very difficult, very trying time to navigate how best to support the local crews and local zone that are impacted.”
Wildfires near Revelstoke, B.C., took the life of 19-year-old Devyn Gale after she was pinned under a fallen tree July 13. Twenty-five-year-old Northwest Territories firefighter Adam Yeadon died on the job while fighting a fire in the Fort Liard District, N.W.T., just a few days later.
A 41-year-old helicopter pilot from Whitecourt, Alta., was killed in a crash July 19 while working on a wildfire near Haig Lake, outside of Peace River, Alta. On July 28, 25-year-old Ontario firefighter Zak Muise died fighting a massive wildfire at Donnie Creek in northeastern B.C.
“We’re doing our best to go directly to the source, help those folks out and give them the time and space that they need to heal and grieve,” said Creighton.
Fire crews in B.C. have access to several resources. These include the CISM, a peer-run critical incident stress management, the Safe Reporting Line with counsellors contracted to help wildfire staff and the government’s Employee and Family Assistance Program, Creighton explained.
“We have sent specialized supports directly to impacted crews and work sites,” she said. “The supports available have been communicated regularly and often to all of our staff at BCWS.”
These kinds of supports are critical for firefighters who often feel they can’t admit they’re struggling with mental health concerns, said Colleen Kamps, a psychotherapist with Temu Foundation.
Kamps led the effort to get mental health counselling to emergency crews and their families during a wildfire in southwest Nova Scotia that saw the evacuation of Shelburne County residents in June.
Of the hundreds of first responders, 18 reached out for support, explained Kamps.
“Even if one reached out, that was a big deal,” said Kamps. “We’re going back in the fall to provide some mental health support and training, including a workshop for those working on the frontlines and for their loved ones.”
Encouraging friends and family who are on the frontlines of this wildfire season is important, Kamps said. Accessing available resources enables them to learn better coping strategies and better manage the trauma they might have suffered from their everyday work.
“It’s been unprecedented, this wildfire season,” said Derrick Forsythe, wildfire information officer with Alberta Wildfire.
This year’s wildfire season raged earlier in the year than its usual peak in July or August. Out-of-control blazes were reported in Alberta and British Columbia as early as April, with both provinces seeing evacuations of tens of thousands of residents from their homes as fire crews worked to protect municipalities.
Communities in Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan have also experienced evacuations, as the entire country grapples with fires. Firefighters from around the world – including crews from South Korea, France, South Africa and the Dominican Republic – have come to fight Canadian fires.
