There’s no shortage of interest in becoming a wildland firefighter in British Columbia.
According to the BC Wildfire Service (BCWS), a record-breaking 2,400 firefighter applications have been received for seasonal positions ahead of the 2026 wildfire season.
Those hired as seasonal firefighters for the busy wildfire season will join more than 600 year-round BCWS personnel through the summer months.
In a briefing regarding the upcoming fire season today, Forests Minister Ravi Parmar boasted that the BCWS continues to grow and evolve as the threat of wildfire does the same.
"We're making the investments needed to ensure BCWS is ready for whatever may come this wildfire season,” he noted.
According to the Province, a $14-million investment has been made in on-the-ground firefighting equipment like trucks and camp infrastructure.
The BCWS has also acquired 10 additional Type-2 structure-protection units, which are trailers containing equipment like pumps, hoses, sprinklers and water-delivery attachments to protect communities from interface fires.
A new equipment depot in Prince George will also be operational for the 2026 wildfire season, providing essential capacity to store and deploy critical resources in the north.
"This depot in Prince George allows for more firefighting infrastructure and equipment to be stored in northern BC,” explained Parmar. “This means northern communities now have a larger depot at home, ready to move equipment through the area more efficiently."
Across the province, the BCWS has provided specialized training for wildland urban interface operations to more than 1,700 fire departments, contractors and First Nations, which will allow these more localized units to deploy to wildfire as needed.
The Province also boasts multi-year investments in predictive tools and technology, as well as the growth of night-vision-capable helicopters as tools in the arsenal to prevent and fight wildfires.
To learn more about how the BCWS responds to wildfires around the province, click this link.
