— Reporter: Steffanie Pinch
— Video and editing by: Katie Anderson

Most people try to avoid fires, but Ebony Griffin gets right into them.

 

The fourth-year journalism student at Carleton spent her summer fighting forest fires in the northern Ontario town of Sioux Lookout, sometimes even dropping down right next to them from a helicopter.

 

“I was super excited and super nervous. I was jumping in the helicopter. We couldn’t find a landing spot for our first fire so we actually did a hover exit into water and then cleared the landing site with a chainsaw,” she said, describing the scene with an excitement most wouldn’t relate to a summer job.

 

It’s not how most people would spend the languid summer months, but Griffin isn’t most people, having grown up and spending her summers in the outdoors, she said.

 

“It’s always nice to have a job outdoors in the summer, much better than being stuck in an office. Some people are doing internships and stuff and I was like . . . maybe I should plan for my future, but no, this sounds more fun."

 

Griffin said a friend of hers who had fought fires in British Columbia inspired her to look into it as a summer job. She said she found the idea very appealing, but the application and hiring processes were stringent.

 

“You have to keep calling them back,” she said. “I ended up catching the guy who did the hiring on a good day and he said he had just promoted someone. There are a lot of applicants for not a lot of positions."

 

The training process was rigorous, she added.

 

“A lot of [the training] is upper body,” she said. “I didn’t really know what to expect.”

The training began with a week-long “intro to firefighting course,” followed by a fitness test, which evaluated Griffin’s physical aptitude.

 

The test is a strenuous assessment of physical performance, according to the Ministry of National Resources’ website. It determines the forest firefighting suitability of applicants using an aerobic fitness test, a weight-lifting test and a hose/pump test.

 

In the hose/pump test, applicants must carry a 28.6-kilogram hose for 100 metres without letting it touch the ground. They are then timed as they carry a 27-kilogram hose pack for 300 metres. Finally, the applicants must drag a hose, extending and refolding it twice in another timed exercise.

 

Then the real work begins.

 

As she began encountering real fires in various situations, Griffin said she rapidly became experienced.

 

“There are project fires, which is where [it’s] gotten so big that you need quite a few crews on it,” she said. “In my opinion, they’re not as exciting but you make really good hours.”

 

“The initial attack fires are the most exciting,” she added. “If you’re the first crew out then you’re running to your helicopter . . . and it’s mostly in bush [where] you’ve never been before.”

 

Despite all the training and preparation, “everything about fire is unexpected. You just learn not to expect anything,” Griffin said.

 

With that, Griffin said she draws on the lessons she learned this summer.

 

“Just [roll] with things that happen,” she said. “Instead of looking ahead and worrying, just focus on what’s in the moment.”

 

Now back in Ottawa after being away since May, Griffin said she feels out of touch with the sense of leisure that most grow accustomed to over the summer.

 

“Now that I’m back here, things are much slower-paced,” she said.

 

Even so, Griffin said she’s pleased to have made the decision to fight forest fires, adding her family has been supportive of her unusual summer job choice.

 

“My parents have always been like, go experience stuff, live life,” she said. “I can even see my parents working on fires.” 

 

Despite the support, her grandmother, Jean Griffin, said she had a few reservations.

 

“I kept my fingers crossed,” she said. She also found a way to check on her granddaughter.

 

“I used to go on the Internet most days. The Ministry of National Resources [has] a daily [forest fire] report,” her grandmother said, adding she was not too concerned because she knows Griffin is “pretty level-headed.”

 

Griffin said she has decided fighting forest fires is something she will pursue “at least for the next four or five years.”

 

Even after a few months getting used to running and dropping down near the flames, it’s still not easy for Griffin to describe the rush of fighting forest fires.

 

“It’s hard to explain it,” she said. “You just have to be there.”