Record-breaking wildfires continue to rage across the border in Canada. The smoke from the fires made its way to New Hampshire this summer, but firefighter Brian Johnson of Rindge has seen the fires up close. He recently returned from working with crews in Quebec to combat the blazes.
When he’s not working with Rindge’s Fire Department, Johnson is a seasonal wildland firefighter for the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation Fire Control. That job takes him to wildfires across the country, and this was his sixth deployment to Quebec.
His two-week deployment was part of the Northeastern Forest Fire Protection Compact, a group of Northeastern states and Canadian provinces that provides mutual aid during wildfire emergencies.
Johnson said a dry spring led to the explosive wildfires across Canada.
“This year in particular, it’s been a huge international effort to fight these fires,” Johnson said.
Most of the fires that Johnson was tasked with putting out were so remote that he and the crew needed to travel by helicopter. The fires often weren’t walls of flame, but smoldering fires in the ground.
“A lot of these fires burn under the root systems of the trees, so infrared would pick these hotspots up,” Johnson said. “Our job on the ground is to actually get in there and find where these hotspots are burning.”
Johnson and his crew would then use tools and hoses to contain the hotspots, preventing flames from erupting.
“You get the adrenaline running the whole time you're out there,” Johnson said.
Johnson’s father was also a wildland firefighter, and he grew up hearing stories about what it was like to be on the fireline.
“That's the basis of why I want to do this job – just to follow his footsteps and continue his legacy.”
