Province to Train Hundreds in Wildfire Suppression
By 250 News
VICTORIA - British Columbia will pay up to 750 unemployed workers to take wildfire suppression training to enhance the Province's capacity to fight and contain forest fires, Forests and Range Minister Pat Bell
announced today.
"This is a great opportunity for First Nations, unemployed forest workers and other individuals to upgrade their skills and experience," said Bell. "Residents of rural communities understand the threat that
wildfires pose. They want to be part of the solution and we want to make sure they have the training to stay safe if called upon to protect homes, businesses, and the forest resource they depend on."
The Emergency Firefighter Training program will pay qualified individuals $15 per hour to take the S-100 Basic Fire Suppression and Safety training course that prepares individuals to become emergency
firefighters. The two-day course is a comprehensive introduction to wildfire suppression work and combines classroom theory with a hands-on field component.
Once trained, individuals with a valid S-100 certificate can be placed on an availability list to assist fire centres and fire suppression contractors in the event that existing resources are fully deployed and
additional contingency firefighting resources are needed. When deployed, emergency firefighters earn $15 per hour and typically perform mop-up, patrols, camp demobilization and other support
functions under the supervision of experienced personnel.
"The fire season has hit harder and earlier than average and our fire crews have been working extremely hard to put the flames out," said Bell. "We're taking an opportunity to be proactive and provide
unemployed workers with the skills to help fight fires should we face the need in the coming months."
To maximize the availability of trained individuals for the current fire season, the training is expected to start as early as the week of July 6. Training will be delivered in regions across the province, with
the most likely locations near the existing fire centres in Prince George, Parksville, Kamloops, Castlegar, Smithers, and Williams Lake. The list of communities will be adjusted to best accommodate the number and
location of applicants. Additional course dates and locations will be considered if there is sufficient demand.
The training program is expected to cost $250,000 and will be coordinated by the Ministry of Forests and Range, Wildfire Management Branch. Further details and application information for the Emergency
Firefighter Training program are available at www.bcwildfire.ca.
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I am hoping that "qualification" includes physical fitness.
From the attached document that analyzes wildland firefighting deaths in the USA, heart attacks are the cause in over 20% of the deaths. Vehicle accidents are in the same percentage range. So, physical fitness plus making sure people know how to drive on forestry roads should be able to reduce the death and major injury incidents in that line of work. The typical S100 covers neither of those two.
These people will be volunteer firement, even though they will gt paid for it. In other words, this is not their regular work and will be called up as needed.
The attached states: "Volunteer firefighters were the most likely to die from heart attacks (44 deaths, 65 percent of all heart attack fatalities). The number of volunteer firefighters dying from
heart attacks probably can be explained by a couple of factors: many more volunteer firefighters are involved in wildland fires on the local level than are agency firefighters, and many volunteer departments have no physical fitness
testing or health screening requirements. Work Capacity Test."
http://www.nwcg.gov/pms/pubs/pms841/pms841_all-72dpi.pdf