Image Credit: CFJC Today / Dylana Milobar

By Dylana Milobar

WILDFIRE BOOT CAMP

Wildfire Service boot camp proves valuable for new recruits

May 9, 2019 | 4:21 PM

MERRITT, B.C. — Every spring, the Provincial Wildfire Training Centre in Merritt hosts the newest B.C Wildfire Service recruits for a round of physically and mentally demanding boot camp training sessions.

After fire season wraps up, seasonal firefighting forces need to replenish numbers for the next round of summer wildfires.

Chief Fire Information Officer Kevin Skrepnek says each year, more than 200 recruits make their way to the training centre in Merritt to learn what it takes to fight summer blazes.

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“To get those 200 people trained up, we do put these boot camps on every year in Merritt — usually three boot camps in total. So about 60 or 70 firefighting candidates at each camp.”

Image Credit: CFJC Today / Dylana Milobar

Once recruits gain fundamental skills from the training sessions, they enter the field with the rest of the men and women firefighting throughout B.C.

“Typically we try to have new recruits after they come out of camp, obviously paired up with some more experienced firefighters,” Skrepnek explains. “So having said that though, they could end up at any of our crews right across the province. So anywhere from Fort Nelson, to the Island, to the Kootenays. So they’ll find that out over the next few days in terms of where they’re going to be assigned.”

Over the course of the eight-day boot camps, recruits get a chance to test their grit, and build camaraderie, enhancing the culture which keeps wildfire service members coming back each year.

Boot Camp Training Coordinator Kyle Young says it’s rewarding to see the kind of friendships and tough mentality those who come through the program are able to develop.

“Being able to get to a place that they didn’t know the could get to physically and mentally, that’s kind of what boot camp is about,” Young says. “Showing them that they can get farther than they thought they could get.”

Image Credit: CFJC Today / Dylana Milobar

While the job naturally attracts physically-inclined workers, firefighting draws people in for a variety of reasons.

Nevada Buchanan joined out of Revelstoke after working outdoors for a number of years, and says the desire to protect B.C’s forests is a huge driving factor.

“There’s that kind of motivation to do good work, and then there’s totally the motivation that comes from how devastating wildfires can be on people’s homes.”

Coming out of Victoria, Guy Cullen says he joined after hearing from friends and family who are in the wildfire service about how great the job is.

“I’ve never really had situations where I’ve been on the fire line, and there have been houses and communities at risk,” He says, “I think that will play a big factor, and that’ll be a really fufilling thing if we do make a difference in stopping those, and we’re saving wildlife and forests.”

Boot camp is just the first part of many training sessions for the 200 new members, who will bring the 2019 provincial firefighting forces to full capacity upon completion.