A former MLA from Cumberland House speaks out about the use of experienced northern firefighters.
Keith Goulet says the province should be using experienced First Nation and Metis firefighters adding that if Canadian soldiers can fight fires with an eight-hour training program so can the experienced firefighter.
“They start looking at credentialization and looking at it for a more technical viewpoint which are important developments in of themselves, but they go a little bit overboard because it bypasses a lot of experienced people who know exactly what to do in a fire,” says Goulet. “All of a sudden you need these credentials and yet during this period in time these were the people who used to put the fires out not that they shouldn’t have credentialization, I do agree, the army didn’t have credentialization and they were able to go fight fire after eight-hours training.”
Goulet adds the northern experienced firefighter is familiar with the surroundings and how to survive in the boreal forest.