Videos
About this discussion
First responders and other public safety personnel are routinely exposed to trauma through performance of their job duties, which can in turn contribute to the development of mental health challenges like depression, anxiety, and other posttraumatic stress injuries (PTSI).
Woodland and wildland firefighters face a unique set of challenges and stressors, including prolonged exposure to dangerous and extreme conditions, exhaustion and burnout from long, physically demanding days and suboptimal sleep, health risks due to smoke and chemical exposure, and loneliness and isolation from extended time spent away from loved ones and community.
2025 has proven to be the second-worst season on record in Canada, and climate scientists warn that back-to-back extreme fire seasons is becoming a new normal, increasing demands on fire fighters and other emergency personnel.
In this panel discussion we will examine:
- The unique challenges and stressors experienced by wildland and woodland fire fighters
- Intersections between structural and woodland/wildland firefighting
- Measures wellness experts are implementing to support wildfire fighter mental health
- Calls for a national-level fire response and mental health supports for wildland firefighters and emergency personnel, and for incorporation of Indigenous fire stewardship principles in wildland firefighting
December 4, 2025.
*Title quotation from Luke Santore, ‘The Silent Mental Health Crisis on the Frontlines of Fire’, Mountain Journal, June 25, 2025.
Panelists
Erik Hanson
Program Manager, British Columbia Wildfire Services Provincial Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) Program
Erik Hanson is a former wildfire fighter and is currently the Program Manager for the BC Wildfire Services Provincial Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) Program. Erik is a trainer for CISM, which is an internationally recognized standard for debriefing and mental health support in response to traumatic situations. He is also trainer with the Resilient Minds for Wildland Firefighters, developed in collaboration with the Canadian Mental Health Association.
Ken McMullen
Fire Chief, Red Deer Fire Department, Emergency Services
Ken McMullen is Fire Chief of the Red Deer Fire Department, Emergency Services, President of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs, as well as a member and former Co-chair of the Public Safety Steering Committee of the Canadian Institute for Public Safety Research and Treatment (CIPSRT). Ken has also served as the Canadian Division Director for the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), where he continues to collaborate on legislative changes and advocacy initiatives that pertain to the Fire Service. In 2020 Ken was bestowed the honour of Career Fire Chief of the Year, and in 2022 received the IAFC President’s Award for his unrelenting advocacy work on mental health supports for first responders.
Brett Pituka
Training and Accreditation Director, National Indigenous Fire Safety Council
Brett Pituka is a passionate educator, paramedic, and advocate for culturally inclusive health and safety education. With a Master of Education in Adult Learning and Global Change from the University of British Columbia and over two decades of experience in healthcare and education, Brett is dedicated to fostering learning environments that empower individuals and communities. As the Training Director for the National Indigenous Fire Safety Council (NIFSC), Brett is overseeing the development of an Indigenous-focused firefighting academy and has presented at national conferences. Additionally, Brett has designed and delivered customized training for paramedics and firefighters, with a focus on Indigenization of curriculum. Brett’s career highlights include developing high-fidelity paramedic training simulations, providing culturally safe healthcare for Indigenous communities, and collaborating with diverse communities across seven countries to deliver culturally responsive healthcare education and empowerment programs.
Dr. Shannon Wagner
Provost and Vice-President (Academic)
Thompson Rivers University
Dr. Shannon Wagner has dedicated much of her research career to the study of workplace traumatic stress, particularly as pertains to emergency responders, and she has expertise in the mental health risks of wildland firefighting. She was the inaugural dean of the Faculty of Human and Health Science at the University of Northern British Columbia and a long-serving professor in the School of Health Sciences. She has served in various professorial and teaching roles from 2000 to 2021. Shannon is also a registered psychologist with expertise in occupational neuropsychological assessment. She is currently the Provost and Vice-President (Academic) at Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia.
Facilitated by:
Kara Vincent
Knowledge Translator, Canadian Institute for Public Safety Research and Treatment
What we learned
Objectives
In this online discussion panelists Erik Hanson (British Columbia Wildfire Services), Ken McMullen (Red Deer Fire Department/Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs), Brett Pituka (National Indigenous Fire Safety Council), Shannon Wagner (Thompson Rivers University), and facilitator Kara Vincent (CIPSRT) examined the unique physical and mental health challenges and stresses of wildland firefighting and among other first responders and public safety personnel (PSP) engaged in wildfire response. Panelists also discussed the increasing overlap between wildland and municipal firefighting, efforts to incorporate Indigenous-led practices and ways of knowing into wildfire response, and made recommendations for supporting PSP mental health.
Key takeaways
- The 2025 wildfire season was the second worst on record in Canada, and resulted in a disproportionate amount of Indigenous individuals and communities being displaced from their homes
- Indigenous wildland firefighters face unique barriers and challenges; traditional Indigenous-led fire stewardship practices make distinct and valuable contributions to wildland fire prevention
- Unique aspects of wildland firefighting – such as seasonal and long deployments, social isolation, and prolonged exposure to dangerous and extreme conditions – require further research in order to develop effective mental health supports for wildland firefighters
- Structural/municipal firefighters, many of whom are volunteers, are increasingly called upon to respond to wildfire encroachment into urban/suburban areas, which greatly increases the duration and intensity of their service and the demands on their mental and physical health; there are growing calls for a national fire administration that would assist in jointly coordinating wildland and structural firefighting response across Canada
- Addressing stigmas around mental health through accessible supports and the normalization of help-seeking can help embed wellness as a standard of practice within PSP occupational cultures
An acknowledgement
The session began with an acknowledgment that the 2025 wildfire season forced the evacuations of over 85,000 people in Canada, 45,000 of which were people from 73 First Nations communities. In a statement from Public Safety Canada it was noted that ‘these numbers represent the lived experiences of thousands of people, including families forced to leave their homes, communities rallying together and responders working tirelessly to protect lives and property’.
Key themes of this discussion
The unique mental health challenges of wildland firefighting
There is far more research on the mental health impacts of structural/municipal firefighting than on wildland firefighting. While there is a lot to be learned from this evidence base, there are many distinct aspects to wildland firefighting, including its seasonal nature, deployment to the field and related living conditions, social isolation and loneliness, the prolonged and ‘extreme’ nature of the work, and sleep deprivation. The pace can feel relentless as fire seasons become longer, and so do deployments. Firefighters are often fighting fires within their communities while at the same time experiencing their own property losses. There is much more research that needs to be done on the unique aspects of wildland firefighting in order to develop appropriate and effective mental health supports.
The unique impacts on Indigenous public safety personnel
Jurisdictional issues around governance and training can create barriers to the inclusion of Indigenous wildland firefighters in provincial and inter-provincial wildland firefighting efforts.
Indigenous wildland firefighters report racism on the job and a disregard for Indigenous knowledge and traditions of fire and land stewardship. Further, for those Indigenous firefighters who view forests as holding cultural, spiritual, social, and emotional significance, there can be a unique mental health burden involved in protecting wildfire zones, or seeing them burn.
Efforts are underway by organizations such as the National Indigenous Fire Safety Council to Indigenize firefighting training and develop culturally relevant fire prevention and emergency response training by and for Indigenous communities. Indigenized training emphasizes interconnectedness with the land, incorporating the guidance of Elders, Knowledge Keepers, and traditional Fire Stewards, and an intergenerational approach to knowledge sharing.
The increasing demand on municipal firefighters in wildfire response
Structural/municipal firefighters have expertise with fires in buildings and other structures, and are trained to respond to medical events, vehicle collisions, and dangerous goods. Areas where fire leaves the forests and threatens people and property in urban/suburban areas is referred to as the urban-wildland interface. Municipalities where interface fires occur tend to rely heavily on paid on-call and volunteer firefighters.
Across Canada, these volunteer firefighters might respond to an average of 1-2 calls per week, providing aid for approximately 20-35 minutes. Yet in the current interface environment these personnel are being asked to be away from their home for weeks and even months at a time on the fire line, increasing the demands on their physical and mental health.
Given these increasing demands on all firefighters there is an emerging call for the creation of a national fire administration that would jointly coordinate structural and wildland fire response, involve fire chiefs across the country in policy discussions, and be government-funded to meet the increasing need.
Current mental health supports
The mental health supports available to wildland firefighters continues to increase. Proactive supports, such as Before Operational Stress, Resilient Minds, and Resilient Minds for Wildland Firefighters are programs designed to increase mental preparedness for encountering trauma and other occupational stressors. Resilient Minds for Indigenous Responders incorporates elements of Indigenous worldviews, and unique aspects of Indigenous experience, such as intergenerational trauma, and community-based first responding. The use of this type of proactive programming is becoming more widespread, although more research on their effectiveness is needed. It is also slowly becoming more common to have clinical support personnel on the fire lines and in command centres, such as we saw in Alberta during the 2025 wildfire season.
Support for individuals after a critical incident is also available, in the form of Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) programs. CISM programs are largely based around volunteer peer support, and serve as a form of ‘first aid’ debriefing after a critical incident has occurred. Facilitators can refer individuals who need follow up support to additional resources and mental health professionals.
It has been suggested that other aspects of critical incident care need urgent reevaluation, such as the multiple and overlapping investigative actions that occur after a death on the fire line, a process which can be very difficult and retraumatizing to those involved.
Recommendations going forward
While there is strong evidence pointing to the widespread prevalence of mental health challenges among first responders and other PSP, conclusive data is still needed on the most effective mental health approaches to address these challenges. We need to understand what works, in what situations, and for whom.
Stigmas surrounding mental health persist within PSP sectors. Perhaps a strategy that acknowledges the inevitability of encountering trauma on the job and normalizes help-seeking as key to operational excellence could prove effective, by positioning mental health and wellness as a core competency within firefighting.
Wildfire seasons are intensifying as a result of global climate change and the mental and physical demands on all firefighters will continue to grow. Perhaps an approach that shifts focus away from response and toward prevention and preparedness in the both the areas of wildland firefighting and mental health will be effective in meeting the challenges to come.
Summary prepared by Kara Vincent.