Indigenous Wildland Firefighter Program Opens New Opportunities

In this episode of "The Rural Perspective", Valley Community Channel host Dana Foster, spoke with Trades and Training Coordinator, Terri Mindel, on their upcoming firefighting program.

This new Indigenous Wildland Firefighting program is being offered to First Nations that live in TK’emlups Te Secwepemc and to surrounding communities if there are seats available. The training is available in order for Indigenous people to be eligible and certified to work for BC Wildfires. There are just a few courses and they're not very extensive. 

According to Mindel, TK’emlups Te Secwepemc is offering a one-month program that would allow for First Nation individuals to get experience with wildfire firefighting at different levels, “such as Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3. There will the opportunity also to take some forestry training courses also.

The program will allow individuals to have the qualifications to work during the firefighting season fighting fire. It is hoped that communities would then look at hiring these individuals in the offseason to do forest tech work for the bands, she explained.

This program hopes to make a difference for First Nation communities in the future. An important part of fighting forest fires is providing managed burns at the right time of year, and this is called burning with fire management.

Burning land areas regularly at certain times of the year has been practised by Indigenous people for thousands of years to keep major fires from happening. This cultural knowledge needs to be kept alive. Teaching the young people coming up in each community this practice is important. It will mean future generations are better equipped to keep their own communities safe in the event of a fire. This program could also provide grounds for increased economic opportunities for participants.