Poorly paid, burned out, looking for work elsewhere

The union for front-line staff who battle forest fires in Manitoba has warned personnel shortages and burnout will add fuel to next year’s wildfire season.

Kyle Ross, the president of Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union, says fire rangers are considering moving away from Manitoba because of low pay and inadequate resources.

“It’s unfortunate. We’ve invested time and money in training these workers to provide security for Manitobans and they’re considering leaving because… there’s other opportunities that are better across the country,” Ross said Tuesday as he released a report titled Burn Out: A Workers’ Perspective from Manitoba’s 2025 Wildfire Season.

The document concludes short-staffing, the lack of resources and low pay put the province at a higher risk of a severe, more costly wildfire season.

The province had 64 fewer fire rangers at the start of this year’s fire season — which turned out to be the worst in three decades — than it had budgeted, the document says.

Labor market information from the federal government states the median wage for forest firefighters in Manitoba is the second-lowest in the country at $20.13 per hour. Saskatchewan rangers are the lowest paid, at $20 per hour.

The document includes feedback from staff involved in the wildfire fight. Some described inadequate training, equipment that was of poor quality or non-functioning, and “critical” shortages of aircraft used to fight fires.

The report makes several recommendations, including addressing the public-sector staffing level, increasing training and safety, reviewing classifications and compensation and buying more modern equipment and systems.

Ross said evacuations could have been avoided had the province had a higher staffing complement.

“The wildland firefighters are a bit of an insurance policy, because if you consider the cost of all the evacuations, had we had it fully staffed and avoided some of those evacuations, that would have probably saved the province money,” he said.

On Monday, the Manitoba government released its second-quarter fiscal update. It pegged the cost of firefighting, evacuations and other wildfire expenses at roughly $224 million from April 1 to Sept. 30. The government had allocated $50 million in its spring budget.

Natural Resources Minister Ian Bushie addressed the union report by saying the former Progressive Conservative government cut programs that led to the staffing shortage. He said his government is actively working to recruit and retain firefighters for next year’s fire season. The province currently has five job openings posted online in its wildfire service division.

In October, Premier Wab Kinew bestowed one of Manitoba’s highest honours, the Order of the Buffalo Hunt, on wildfire personnel to thank them for their efforts during the province’s second-worst wildfire season in history.

The province has recorded 444 fires to date, which have burned 2.1 million hectares of land. More than 32,000 residents were evacuated from their homes owing to wildfires.

Once the worst of the fires were brought under control, the province announced it would undertake a review to help shape the response to future wildfires.

Consultations with local governments are expected to be finished by January. The next step is to engage with front-line workers, Bushie said.

“The goal is to have it done as quickly as possible, but we want to be able to do it right, have that engagement across all aspects of the wildfire service and all aspects of Manitoba to really have that (thorough) review,” Bushie said.

The union’s report calls for year-round positions in the wildfire service to do maintenance and preventative work to dampen future wildfire seasons. Ross said employees could be out in the wild clearing brush and monitoring fires that burn underground during the winter.

Fewer staff means there are not enough crews to attack and manage small fires before they become large fires, which require more resources and threaten communities, the report said.

As of Tuesday, 15 fires were still smouldering across the province despite cold temperatures and snow cover. Experts have warned the fires, many of which are concealed underground, could resurface next spring. The active fires were classified as under control.

An online map published by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada shows parts of northern and central Manitoba have extreme drought conditions.

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca

Burnt out report