The Vancouver Fire Rescue Services (VFRS) recently hosted more than a dozen Indigenous high school students for a firefighter bootcamp. The bootcamp is offered through a partnership between the First Nations’ Emergency Services Society, VFRS, Musqueam First Nation, and ACCESS. Students wore jumpsuits, boots, helmets, and gloves as they learned about handling the hose, hydrant tagging, and how to conduct a search-and-rescue in a smoke-filled building. “Keeping control of the hose is tough work,” said Burnaby North Secondary Grade 11 student Kyle Peters, who is from the Lilʼwat First Nation. “The water pressure pushes you back. We worked hard just to hold ourselves down so we didn’t go flying back.” Matthias Ballantyne, a VFRS firefighter and a member of Misipawistik Cree Nation, emphasized the importance of representation in shaping career aspirations and shared that the program is intended to help increase First Nations representation within the fire service.
