08/15/2021
โMy name is Kyle Young and I am an Incident Commander with the BC Wildfire Service. I am writing this post rather than sharing a video message because, frankly, it would be too emotional for me. I am someone that ground crews, my kids, and many other people, look up to for guidance through these challenging seasons. I have been doing this job for 16 years. I am a third generation wildland firefighter, following my father and grandfather. I have a long history within this organization and the love I have for this job is what drives me every day, along with the support I receive from my family and co-workers.
This season we have been tested and we have done everything possible to ensure people are safe. I understand there are other opinions out there that might not agree with that sentiment, but please know, from someone who has only been able to spend six days with his family since June 30th, I can attest to the dedication from every single person who is employed on these fires.
2021 is different from previous years. We arenโt getting the resources we usually would from other jurisdictions due to the immense fire danger across Canada and the United States. Then you throw a global pandemic on top of it, which has impacted how we are able to manage fires and the resources we have available to draw from. We show up to do our best but at the end of the day, we are humans and Mother Nature has the power. We need to allow her to do what she needs to do all while keeping everyone safe. Again, I understand not everyone is going to agree with this message and I get it, but please know that I am proud of the effort everyone in the organization, the contractors, partners, and anyone else supporting us are making. The sacrifices to do this job are ultimately driven by passion, empathy, courage, and a huge amount of integrity. My family, along with hundreds of others, have sacrificed a lot in order for us to go out and help the people of British Columbia. We understand the choices we have made in our career. I promise you it is not taken lightly by any of us and we feel proud to be part of this organization.
At the end of each grueling day, I wonder if everyone is okay. Not only on the incident Iโm managing, but those working on other incidents, along with those deeply affected by the devastating wildfires. I wonder if I could have done something different, something better. I wonder what tomorrow will bring, will it rain, will I be able to see my family soon, or will I open social media and be inundated with posts from people who speculate on what we do, or worse, what they think we donโt do. This season will pass and then everyone can ask questions, we will make adjustments, and we will reflect on what we learned this season. Right now, itโs time for us, as a province, to come together and support each other. Help us, help your neighbors, help everyone get through the next six weeks of what has been the most challenging summer. It is also the time to remind yourself that when you post something out of anger, frustration, fear, or heartbreak, there are other families out there feeling all those same things and reading your words that may be hurtful. Please be kind, stay calm, and know that the BC Wildfire Service is fighting for British Columbiaโs safety every single day.โ
๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐ป๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐๐ผ๐บ๐บ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ, ๐๐๐น๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐ผ๐๐ป๐ด ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐ป๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ง๐ฒ๐ฎ๐บ, ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ถ๐ ๐ฎ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ฒ ๐ด๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ฝ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ธ๐ถ๐น๐น๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ป๐ฒ๐น ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฎ๐ด๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ๐
๐๐ถ๐น๐ฑ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐๐. ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ป๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ง๐ฒ๐ฎ๐บ๐ ๐ต๐ฒ๐น๐ฝ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐น๐ถ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐น๐ผ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ๐, ๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐บ ๐๐ผ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฐ๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฟ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ฝ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ป ๐ป๐ฒ๐ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐๐. ๐ฆ๐ผ ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ผ๐ป, ๐๐๐น๐ฒโ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ฝ๐ผ๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ธ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐๐ถ๐น๐น๐ผ๐ผ๐ฒ๐, ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐ ๐ถ๐น๐ฒ ๐ก๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ๐
๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐น๐ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐น๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐ต๐๐๐๐ฎ๐ฝ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฎ๐ด๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฐ ๐๐ถ๐น๐ฑ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐, ๐ถ๐ป๐ฐ๐น๐๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ถ๐
๐๐ถ๐น๐ฑ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ป๐ผ๐๐ฒ. ๐๐๐น๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ฎ๐บ๐น๐ผ๐ผ๐ฝ๐, ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ป ๐ต๐ฒ ๐ถ๐๐ปโ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ ๐ต๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐๐ฎ๐ณ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ผ๐ฝ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ป๐ฒ๐
๐ ๐ด๐ฒ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ถ๐น๐ฑ๐น๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ณ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐.
