Travelling firefighter returns home to Norman Wells, says she's married to her job

Yvonne Meulenbroek is back in Norman Wells after spending over two weeks fighting wildfires in northern Alberta. 

It's "nice" to be home, she said, but long stints on the road are nothing new for her. 

“Travelling for firefighting, it’s as much as [other regions] need, but we’ve been pretty hot in the NWT for the past two seasons," she said. "If it’s quieter, we’ll do a lot more out-of-territory stuff, but when home is too hot, they tend to keep us around, so it’s really a privilege to get out.

Last year she was sent to Australia because summer there occurs during Northern winters, she noted.

Meulenbroek is finishing her eighth season as a firefighter — her ninth if you include her time in Australia. She loves the work, whether she's battling blazes in the NWT or farther afield. 

“I’m married to my job," she said. “I honestly was just experimenting when I first tried it out and just fell in love with it right away.

"I felt like working with fire made me way more competent," she added. "It’s challenging every day, and there’s lots of problem solving, which I’m really eager to do."

While Meulenbroek loves her duty, there is no question it's extremely challenging. 

During her time on the fire line in Alberta, she was working 14- to 16-hour days as a division supervisor, which meant it was her responsibility to determine "what resources there are as far as crews, numbers of people, how much hose, how many pumps."

"The first thing we’ll do is look for a water source and establish a pump setup there, and then [figure out] the best way to get to the fire line from where the water is," she said, outlining a typical day. "If there’s no water, we’ll often have portable tanks — we call them pumpkins — and we’ll set them up wherever it’s convenient so that the helicopters can bucket into the tanks and we can put water wherever we need. 

“It’s pretty limited resources a lot of the times, which is pretty common."

Despite the long days, operational challenges and clear danger, Meulenbroek describes her job as "rewarding," particularly because she gets to work closely with people — the "hardest and best" part of the job, she said. 

Sometimes, she works with people from the areas she's deployed in. Other times, she stands alongside colleagues from other much farther away. 

“People are always coming up to you, thanking you for your service, but I really feel like the job gives me a lot in return," she said. "The inbound inter-agency stuff was really interesting too. We worked with a ton of people from Mexico and Costa Rica [in Alberta]."

The risk of wildfire is higher than ever, as climate change is causing temperatures to spike in many places around the world. The rising risk of fire has created an increased need for firefighters, and Meulenbroek "100 per cent" recommends young people in the NWT consider a career in the field.

The hiring requirements "aren't generally high," she stated. One need only be "hard-working and ready to learn," she said.

"All across Canada and maybe even the world, we are struggling to fill positions," she said. "I’m not sure based on what — maybe because young people want to be tied to the Internet and we spend a lot of time out of [wi-fi] service. 

"I tell everyone I meet to try it out at least, because I think it’s one of the best things that can happen to you. I like to say that our worst days are still better than an office person’s best day.”