Fire Fighting in Canada

On July 6, 1994, the South Canyon/Storm King Fire turned deadly in Colorado. The working crew included the Prineville Hotshots, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) smokejumpers, and two helitack crew members. The fire, driven forward by sustained surface winds of 32 km/hr and gusts exceeding 48 km/hr, blew up and raced forward with 100-foot flame lengths. Fourteen firefighters di...

On the fire ground, the incident commander is viewed as the origin of control, making decisions from an inner command centre experienced singularly as the self. But brain science complicates that picture and the complex way we make decisions. It’s estimated we have about 86 billion neurons in our cauliflower-sized brains. That’s an outrageously complicated structure to break ...

August 31, 2026, Vancouver — SenseNet, a leader in ultra-early wildfire detection, prediction, and management, has announced the acquisition of N5 Sensors wildfire business. The strategic transacti...

The Ontario government is investing more than $20 million to upgrade the Vedette and Socket Lake Forward Attack Bases, two critical wildland fire management facilities that are strategically located in Northwestern Ontario. Photo credit: Province of Ontario

Sept. 14, 2026, Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. — The Ontario government i...

In the fire service, decision-making isn’t an academic exercise, it’s a survival skill. Every day, fire officers and chiefs make choices that can affect lives, property, budgets, reputations and careers. From a tactical call at three in the morning to a budget meeting on Monday morning, decisions drive outcomes. Yet one of the most overlooked questions in our profession is ho...