Canada wildfires: 'Fire family' in Millet, a small town in Alberta, battles wildfire season — 'When one hurts, we all hurt'

With wildfire season in Canada just underway following last year’s record run (which saw over 15 million hectares burned, seven times the annual average), a not so little fact worth remembering is that the majority of firefighters across the country are volunteers.

In fact, according to the 2023 Great Canadian Fire Census, of the country’s nearly 126,000 firefighters, about 88,600 or 71 per cent are volunteers. Many of them have been fighting fires for years — some even decades — and they are entirely motivated by love for their community.

Like Trevor Palmer, deputy chief of Millet, Alberta’s fire department south of Edmonton and home to just 2,000 people. He’s been serving as a volunteer firefighter since the young age of 13 (a time when, he clarifies, “things were different”), first in his hometown of Youngstown, and then in Millet after relocating in 2005. Overall, he’s been dedicated to the fire service for 30 years, and was originally inspired by his father, who was also a volunteer firefighter.

“From the moment that I was born, when the fire siren went off, my dad would be off, day and night, and it piqued my interest,” he says. “Once I was old enough to be responsible, I’d go with him. When you're from such a small town, giving back to the community is important. If my dad or the other like-minded volunteers weren't involved with the fire department, the community club, or other service groups, those groups wouldn’t exist. So it was out of necessity that he did it, and that was instilled in me.”

Though there is a dearth of younger people joining rank, it isn’t only long-time firefighters or those of a certain generation eager to help. James Thompson, who is a student at paramedic school by day, has been a volunteer firefighter with Millet Fire since 2021, and even helped create a junior firefighter program curriculum. A retired U.S. Marine, Thompson met his wife while stationed overseas, and the two eventually settled in her hometown of Millet to raise their children.

Thompson’s wife is a teacher and volunteers with the town’s Communities in Bloom program, while they both coach soccer. Volunteering with the fire department, then, was a natural fit for Thompson, who hardly broke a sweat at the thought of fighting fires.

“If the Marine Corps taught me anything, it's being calm, cool and collected in the worst day of somebody else's life,” he says. “It is kind of my strong suit at this point, being able to attempt to control the chaos as much as I can. My wife and I are [so involved] because we want to be creating a community that we want our kids to thrive in.”

The process is simple: Volunteers are given a pager or download an app on their phone. When a call comes in, they can respond if they are able. A senior firefighter delegates, everyone gets in uniform and gears up, hops into their trucks and heads to the scene.

As forest fires in the country have only grown in number, size and aggression, one might wonder what could possibly motivate so many folks to help out, free of charge in most cases?

In the case of Millet — which covers about 30 kilometres of the QEII highway (one of the busiest highways in the province) — and the many small towns like it, due to its size, budgets are too limited to support full-time fire departments. Which means volunteer services are essential.

“We would be in a world of trouble if it weren't for people who are willing to volunteer,” Palmer says. “And, let's face it, we're not storm chasers or anything like that, but there is a certain excitement that goes along with being able to be a volunteer firefighter. I would argue we can do probably 90 per cent of the tasks that a career firefighter does. The difference is we have a different day job.”

Ironically, for Palmer, that’s working in risk mitigation as a banker. Still, he says, he’s always fearful: “If anyone on my crew or under my command was injured or something went wrong that affected their ability to be a good husband, father, worker, that does weigh very heavily on my mind, because it's definitely a dangerous job.”

To put it into perspective, on average, Millet Fire receives 140 to 150 calls a year, which is about one every three days. It could be regarding something as simple as someone having burnt their toast setting off the smoke detector, to a horrific collision on the road, to a woodland fire. And no, Palmer’s team has never lost anyone on duty and there has never been a major injury on scene.

Even so, with how devastating wildfires were last year, pushing entire communities to leave their homes and some volunteer firefighters to leave their jobs to help, the gig has begun to lose some of its appeal.

Canada is facing a shortage in volunteer firefighters, with fire chiefs reporting it has become harder and harder to recruit and retain new members, while older volunteers age out or retire. After a push from the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs (CAFC), the government doubled the volunteer firefighters and search and rescue tax credit, which had not been raised since its inception, in hopes of combating the shortage. The CAFC is also asking for better mental health support, more training resources and equipment.

Although Millet is also short on staff, by working on a 24/7/365 policy, all 30 members of the fire department are always alert, with someone always available to come to the rescue. Everyone has varied skills, too, applicable in countless calamities; there are engineers, mechanics, farmers.

If they’re still short on hands, they’ll turn to nearby fire departments with which they share mutual aid agreements. That’s helped keep Millet Fire’s turnover rate low, Palmer says, though he knows of some departments with turnover rates of up to 25 per cent per year, which he suspects is largely due to the high commitment involved. After all, not all employers are as keen and forgiving as Palmer’s when emergency calls.

Which is why those who are willing to take the risk and band together to protect their town form such tight, life-long bonds. Palmer explains: “We are very fortunate that everyone on our crew has each other’s backs at all times for all reasons. The respect is so high across the board. We're just one big team with common goals: we all want to give something back to our community, and we want our community to be safe. And it goes beyond Millet. I have a wife and two kids; when they're driving up and down the highway in, say, Lacombe, and I’m not there, I want to know that someone in our fire family is there for them in an emergency.”

“We're there for the greater good; service bigger than self,” Thompson says, sharing what he hopes all prospective volunteers keep in mind. “Understanding that what we do can be quite dangerous and physical fitness plays a role in that, too. We're not looking for a G.I. Joe or Ken Doll.”

And sure, there might be a little competition between neighbouring departments, but what keeps these firefighters connected is the foundation of volunteering: a deep, inner altruism. Which is what Palmer, Thompson and so many others hope will motivate more volunteers to come forward as the need grows.

“There's things that we see and do that no paid professional or volunteer should ever have to see or do,” Palmer says. “But knowing that there are other people like that out there? That's what creates a fire family. We're cut from the same cloth. When one hurts, we all hurt. Today, it takes a special type of person to want to be a volunteer, regardless of whether that's for a club, an event, or coaching minor sports. I would argue it takes an even bigger and different type of person to be willing to volunteer to do what we do.”