'Your heart breaks for them': B.C. wildfire fighter shares his perspective from the front lines

Back in May, Benson Munch already had the feeling it was going to be a bad wildfire season.

He says he was prepared for it.

That turned out to be a good thing, as 2023 became the worst wildfire season in British Columbia's history. From April 1 to Aug. 17,fires burned about 16,000 square kilometres of land, toppingthe old record of 13,500 square kilometres setin 2018,according to statistics from the B.C. Wildfire Service (BCWS).

Munch has been a firefighter since 2017 and is now a team leader with Wolverine Fire and Rescue, which works under contract with the BCWS. The 42-year-old from Quesnel, B.C., has been from one end of the province to the other, battling blazes that have had devastating impacts on natural landscape and personal property.

He says being a front-line firefighter brings with it the satisfaction and reward of helping people, although some of those experiences can also be tough on the soul.

"Some of it is pretty horrific," he told CBC. "I've seen some of the houses that have been burned down and things like that. It's a traumatic experience to go through, but it's also my job. I have to keep strong because if I don't keep strong, my team can't keep strong.

"Sometimes you see people sifting through ashes, and they're grateful to see you, but your heart breaks for them."

Requests for firefighters have been 'non-stop'

Munch started his season in May, working with a different company on fires in the Fort St. John area and on the B.C.-Alberta border in the same northern region. He had also been assembling teams for Wolverine Fire and Rescue and started attending fires with those groups "in June or July."

Wolverine is based in Prince George, and Munch is in his first year as a team leader. He says individual teams usually consist of five firefighters, but he oversees 20 to 30 people in total, depending on the overall number of personnel.

Munch says the firefighters with Wolverine are men and women, ranging from about 18 to 45 in age. Teams are deployed on fires for up to 14 days at a time and then get three or four days of rest.

"This year, it's been more like three days because of so many fires happening and requests that have been coming in to have firefighters out there," Munch said. "It's been non-stop."

Other places Munch has been stationed this season include Mackenzie and Quesnel in the northern part of the province. More recently, he has been further south, in places like Lillooet, Penticton and West Kelowna.

'It would have cut off two communities'

Munch wasn't able to get into specifics, but he says one of his most rewarding moments this summer came when he and his team were able to prevent a fire from getting out of control and impacting the residents of two inhabited areas.

"We had a fire blow up almost right in front of us, but we ended up stopping it before it got out of hand," he said. "It would have cut off two communities, but we were able to suppress it. I was pretty proud of my team that day."

Munch says he expects to be working into October, and that prediction falls in line with projections from the provincial government, which has extended a state of emergency in B.C. to at least Sept. 14.

In making that announcement at the end of August, the province said more than 3,500 personnel were still "directly engaged in wildfire response efforts, including B.C. Wildfire Service staff, contract personnel and personnel from Mexico, South Africa, Australia, Ontario and the Canadian Armed Forces."

Munch says the amount of work done by firefighters this season has been incredible.

"I'm very, very proud to be a firefighter," he said. "Especially this year."