‘We are sick of it’: Ontario forest firefighters burning out as concerns grow

As Ontario’s forest fire season drags on, a sense of mutiny is brewing on the front lines.

Crews of firefighters, who have long warned of understaffing and inexperience, are burning out. Some are quitting. Others plan not to return and a few remaining veterans are on the brink of retirement.

“We are not making money anymore and we are sick of it,” one Ontario firefighter said in a video posted to social media, announcing his plan to work an eight-hour day and no more.

Reports of work-to-rule labour action spread over the summer, though the union representing the province’s forest firefighters cautions no official action is being taken.

The disgruntled sentiment, however, can be felt at bases throughout the north.

Some worry about the future of wildland firefighting in Ontario and safety on the front lines. Others point out that years of worsening recruitment and retention issues have left the province vulnerable and forced it to spend millions of dollars on short-term fixes.

At the end of July, an email was sent by a general manager at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry to every firefighter in Ontario. It informed them someone had died fighting a forest fire, one of several this summer, the latest in British Columbia.

“It’s been a difficult year to say the least for the wildland fire community across Canada, and this is yet another stark reminder of the hazards associated with our work,” the mass email said.

News of the death brought the dangers of the job closer to home.

“Unfortunately, it’s only a matter of time (before) it (is) Ontario’s turn to report news like this, and mark my words the incident will be connected with ‘inexperience,’” one person in the program, who was granted anonymity for fear of workplace reprisals, told Global News.

The Ontario public sector union representing forest firefighters echoed those concerns, saying staff shortages and a busy season means members were spending more time in harm’s way.

“Workers are spending more time on fires, prolonging their exposure to smoke inhalation and the unimaginable heat of an inferno for longer periods of time,” the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) told Global News.

Several injuries and close calls have already taken place in 2023.

In one incident in Sioux Lookout, a firefighter cut their hand on a chainsaw, risking bleeding out, sources told Global News. The Ministry of Labour said a worker was “injured by equipment” in the same area during the same time period.

A vehicle rollover was reported in the Sioux Lookout the next month and another person was injured falling in Red Lake, labour officials said. They did not confirm the extent of the injuries.

A helicopter was also seriously damaged in the Thunder Bay area in a strike to its main rotor that meant both blades and several other parts of the machine had to be replaced, according to sources.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry said the province “takes the safety of fire crews and other emergency support personnel very seriously.”

Away from more dramatic injuries, some fear the conditions of fighting forest fires in busy summers like 2023 are slowly killing firefighters.

The crews deployed to fight fires are not given breathing equipment to filter the carcinogens. Although the official protocol in Ontario is to have crews fight fire away from the main source of the smoke, some in the program are skeptical that makes much of a difference.

Mark Belanger, the president of OPSEU Local 713 representing around 300 wildland firefighters operating out of Thunder Bay, has a lengthy list of safety concerns for the men and women he represents. He has worked in Ontario’s forest fire program for more than 25 years and spent almost two decades in Canada’s armed forces.

Pointing to air quality warnings issued in Toronto and across North America this summer, when forest fire smoke spread thousands of kilometres south from Ontario’s boreal forest fires, he said crews were exposed to the full force of that smoke.

“We have nothing,” he told Global News.

In response to one particularly smoky day, the City of Toronto ran its recreational programs indoors, suspended outdoor child care and advised people to stay inside when possible.

“Crews are strategically positioned upwind for safety during fires,” a provincial spokesperson said. “While Canadian wildland fire agencies don’t typically use respirators, additional safety measures are implemented when needed.”

The effects of unfiltered smoke, however, are not Belanger’s only safety concern.

He also fears firefighting foam — a compound of chemicals that break the surface tension of water dropped onto fires by plane — is a danger to crews.

Belanger said it “coats everyone, all the time” while fighting forest fires, seeping into their clothes and skin.

“You’re working like a dog, you’re covered in water, which means the chemicals that are all around you on the ground are also in your clothing,” he said.

Firefighters are stationed outside the drop zone when aircraft pour water onto fires in Ontario.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organization, said the chemicals in fire foam are “possibly carcinogenic to humans,” finding some limited evidence they can cause testicular and kidney cancer, the American Cancer Society said.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry said that the firefighting foam concentrate added to water in Ontario has been carefully tested.

“It has minimal impact when added to water in the concentrations the Ministry uses in its operations, increasing the effectiveness for wildland fire suppression,” a spokesperson said.

Rapidly dwindling experience in the fire program is a key concern for many involved with Ontario’s efforts to fight forest fires, especially when it comes to the safety of firefighters.

In April, when the fire season officially starts, several waterbombers, used to attack burning forests, were not ready.

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The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry said the delay in getting planes ready was due to freezing weather, pointing out pilots can’t scoop water from lakes in northern Ontario until they have thawed. The last of the waterbombers wasn’t ready the week of May 30, the government said.

“You cannot operate a successful fire program without the critical resources being available when they are needed,” said one individual working for Ontario’s firefighting program that Global News agreed not to identify.

The union believes Ontario has 50 fewer crews than it should to battle fires this summer. A spokesperson said Ontario had 142 crews of four to six people in Ontario this year, with up to 320 private firefighters available to hire on contracts.

Crews are also far less experienced than they used to be, Belanger said.

When he joined the fire program in the 1980s, Belanger said every member of his crew had about 20 years of experience. Fast forward to the crews he now represents as a union boss, and senior firefighters can have as little as five years.

That drop in experience directly contributes to a lack of awareness and means crews are often — through no fault of their own — “almost incapable of being situationally aware of safety in their workplace,” he told Global News.

The province said that “all front-line fire crews must meet wildland fire training and fitness standards, including first aid, safe equipment usage, and aircraft interaction.”

Some in the program argue a lack of resources and staff shortages were behind extensive fire bans in the summer and meant some forests burned hotter and longer than they would have if more crews were available.

The retention issues described by Belanger are on the radar at Queen’s Park.

Since at least 2016, the provincial government has requested reports looking at problems with recruitment and retention. Several reports, produced by staff within the program came to almost identical conclusions: low pay, poor conditions an overreliance on student labour have turned firefighting from a career into a summer job.

The program is hemorrhaging experienced staff and failing to attract recruits with long-term ambitions, the reports said.

Recently, the Ford government took their actions a step further. A private, third-party company was retained to look at the program’s recruitment issues.

Attempts by Global News to access the report through freedom of information laws were unsuccessful. Privacy officials at the province confirmed the third-party audit cost around $110,000 to complete, but did not share its findings.

“Like many other industries/employers across the province, MNRF has positions that are being impacted by a highly competitive labour market and economic factors,” the provincial spokesperson said.

While the government studies the problem — again, the situation in northern Ontario is worsening.

“I just lost two other people in my district, yesterday,” Belanger said, in an interview in late July.

“One of them walked off the job, he came out of the bush, ‘F**k it, I don’t like this,’ and quit. Another guy… informed his employer he had to write his MCAT, he was going to school to be a doctor, and left.”

As of late July, 32 firefighting staff had resigned from roles battling Ontario’s wildfires, sources said. Global News understands the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry doesn’t formally track the reasons people leave wildland firefighting. The figure was not confirmed by communications officials at Queen’s Park.

OPSEU anticipates issues will be worse in 2024, given the increased burnout in this year’s busy summer, compounded by wage stagnation.

“Despite their working conditions – extreme danger, isolation from family for many, high personal cost of food and lodging – forest fire workers are paid only $22 to 26 per hour… and are not classified correctly to receive compensation that reflects the high risk of their work,” the union said.

In July, Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry Graydon Smith met with a group of firefighters and union representatives. Union sources said they pushed for commitments from the man in charge of the program but left empty-handed.

“We know there are issues that have been raised by staff and there is a need to understand and address challenges around how to retain staff and recruit new people into this very important and challenging work,” the minister’s office told Global News before the meeting.

It’s not just Canada’s boreal forests burning this summer, some say, it’s also mountains of provincial cash.

During busy years, with Ontario’s limited number of crews stretched thin, the province is on the hook for extra costs. Agency firefighters — generally provided by a couple of companies — can be brought in to boost numbers, along with crews from other countries and regions.

Canadian and international crews are shared as part of an agreement, but don’t come for free. The province did not confirm how much it had spent on importing firefighters during the busiest summer months.

Global News has obtained a cost document from early mid-June, however, showing Ontario had spent $310,000 on contract workers and firefighters and $4.6 million on overtime with barely two months of the season gone. Those figures have not been finalized and will not be available until the fiscal year ends next April.

“Our government has increased its Emergency Fire Fighting funding by more than 92 per cent since 2018, with no cuts to firefighting services,” the province said.

Belanger said standby and overtime requests were being denied routinely by management to save costs.

The realities of firefighting, he said, mean crews are currently not paid when they’re camping in the bush by a fire but not physically fighting it. Instead of being paid a standby or full-time fee while they’re deployed, the province only compensates firefighters when they’re in action.

Requests for extra compensation like standby pay are reportedly routinely refused by senior management. The union confirmed 125 grievances had been filed, with “more on the way.”

Refusing to payout those requests is costing the program, Belanger said.

“They won’t admit to having to put more money into it, even though the reality is staring them in the face,” he said.

“Even though recruitment and retention is saying it’s going to take you seven years to get people who are well trained enough to fill the gaps you have right now.”