Firefighter dies during wildfire blaze

A young firefighter died while tackling one of the many wildfires currently raging across Canada.

19 Year-old Firefighter Devyn Gale was with the British Columbia wildfire service when she was tackling a fire outside the town of Revelstoke, approximately 500 km northeast of Vancouver.

Devyn was part of a team tasked to clear brush to assist in creating a fire break in an effort to slow and stop the fire. During the operation, Firefighter Gale became cut off from her team, and was struck by a fallen tree and became trapped underneath.

Firefighters located their colleague a short time afterwards and administered trauma care to her before she was airlifted her to hospital. Sadly, she died in hospital a short time afterwards despite the best efforts of her colleagues and medical personnel.

The tragic incident happened on Thursday last.

The firefighters brother Nolan Gale paid a tribute to his sister on Instagram. “She was so kind and thoughtful. She was careful, considerate, hardworking. I’m grateful for everything she’s done for me and others, completely out of kindness with no expectation for reciprocation.”

Paying tribute, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described the news as “heartbreaking”. Mr Trudeau sent his deepest condolences to Ms Gale’s family, friends, and fellow firefighters and said “We must never forget the risks these heroes take every time they run toward the danger.”

Her death marks the first death on the ground since the start of Canada’s wildfire season – and reportedly the first in British Columbia since 2015.

Canada is currently suffering its worst-ever wildfire season with fires raging across large swathes of eastern Canada. In Quebec, the Canadian military is being deployed to help with emergency evacuations in the north of the province.

In British Columbia, some 2,000 firefighters are battling more than 365 active fires across the province with an extra 1,000 international firefighters being requested by officials to assist in tackling the blazes that have burned 1.2 million hectares of forest so far this year.

Sarah Budd, spokesperson for the British Columbia Wildfire Service said ‘conditions are expected to remain hot and dry for the foreseeable future and they’re not expecting any reprieve from the weather.’

Emergency Times would like to extend our thoughts and prayers to the family, friends and colleagues of Firefighter Devyn Gale, of the British Columbia Wildfire Service at this sad time.