Global Courant
Fighting wildfires has always been physically demanding work, but in Canada more and more attention is being paid to its psychological toll.
Wildland firefighters and professionals who work with them say the job has become mentally tougher as fires have grown larger and more complex, moving closer to or reaching areas where people live.
“I hear it over and over again that these are unprecedented conditions, and yet every other week there are new unprecedented conditions,” said Steve Lemon, an incident commander with BC Wildfire Service.
Lemon, who said he lost five colleagues to suicide, is also a safety and welfare officer trying to accelerate a cultural shift toward more mental health discussion within firefighting.
‘It’s okay not to be okay’
Colleen Kamps, a psychotherapist who works with the nonprofit Tema Foundation, has this year mentored forest firefighters working in Nova Scotia.
The organization received 150 calls after promoting a campaign that included free crisis counselling.
Kamps said a firefighter with more than 20 years of experience told her he can handle his job, but this season he sometimes couldn’t stop crying.
Colleen Kamps, a psychotherapist with the Tema Foundation, supports forest firefighters in Nova Scotia. (Pelin Sidki/CBC)
She said she gives firefighters permission to sit with those emotions instead of ignoring them.
“My thing is, it’s okay not to be okay; you’re allowed to have feelings,” she said.
As Canada counts on its worst wildfire season on record, crew chiefs and fire company managers are alert to warning signs of mental health problems.
“We’ve already experienced in two months what we usually experience in a year,” said Andrew Cardinal, business manager of the Saddle Lake Smoke Eaters — a native bushfirefighting company about two hours northeast of Edmonton.
Cardinal said the Smoke Eaters usually start work after the May long weekend, but this year they started in April.
Andrew Cardinal, business manager of the Saddle Lake Smoke Eaters, said wildfire firefighters have stressful jobs, especially this year. (Kory Siegers/CBC)
Experts say climate change is bringing warmer and drier conditions, leading to longer wildfire seasons. For firefighters, that means spending more time in remote areas, away from family.
Cardinal said help is available for his employees – from senior citizens in the community and programs further afield.
His company also plans to conduct a full-day training session on mental wellbeing for office workers, as they too can work stressful 14-hour days.
Harold Cardinal, who works for the Smoke Eaters and has been fighting fires since he was 17, said he spoke to an emergency worker two years ago after being involved in an all-terrain machine accident.
“The more you talk about it with someone, it helps,” he said.
Harold Cardinal has been a wildlife firefighter for decades. He currently works for the Saddle Lake Smoke Eaters, a fire company in the Saddle Lake Cree Nation. (Kory Siegers/CBC)
Danny Clarke, a forest firefighter who works for Fire Wise Forest Solutions in southern Alberta, said crew members try to support each other when fatigue sets in around day eight of a 14-day tour.
“When we’re here, we all bond and we actually become a family,” he said.
More days off, changing culture
Provincial wildfire agencies in British Columbia and Alberta have ramped up mental health support by offering peer support programs, 24/7 telephone counseling and specialized resilience training.
Research from Nicola Cherry, the chair of occupational medicine at the University of Alberta medical department, suggests that peer support and debriefing can be effective.
She followed a cohort of firefighters sent to Fort McMurray in 2016 and found that those who worked for fire departments who provided this support were less anxious and less depressed than those who didn’t.
“We now know that they work, they are useful and there should be systems in place so that they can be called upon,” she said.
Steve Lemon said the BC Wildfire Service is increasing the number of days off between successive tours to combat prolonged fatigue. The service is also working with the University of Northern British Columbia to study how wildfires affect workers’ mental health.
Lemon said recent efforts are making a difference. The advice line received an average of 91 calls per month last year, compared to a higher number of more distressing calls in 2019.
Jarret Whitbread, a wildfire management specialist with Alberta Wildfire, says more people in the industry are now talking about mental health. (Submitted by Jarret Whitbread)
Jarret Whitbread, a wildfire management specialist at Alberta Wildfire, said he also sees progress in Alberta.
Whitbread said more people are now talking about mental health within firefighting personnel, breaking the stigma that has surrounded it in the past.
“The most important thing we can do is raise awareness about it,” he said.
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