M'Tiwa-Ki Services expands firefighting operations

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With the forest fire season approaching, M'Tiwa-Ki Services based in Birch Island is gearing up for the battle.

Operations manager Art Jacko said his company will deploy 25 firefighting crews this spring with a total of 130 workers. The current contract with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources is worth $1 million, he reported.

M'Tiwa-Ki Services was formed in March 1998 and fielded 10 crews in 1999 made up of 60 trained personnel, Jacko said. Competition for the fire suppression contracts remains challenging because the ministry selects just seven companies to meet the province-wide demands of the fire season.

Fifty people have signed up for the training sessions to be held in the Birch Island community centre and outdoors on the outskirts of Birch Island. Participants come from as far south as Parry Sound and include First Nations youth from Manitoulin Island communities as well.

Firefighting is really a young person's vocation, he said. M'Tiwa Services strives to provide training opportunities for as many First Nations youth as possible, but he also retains many older experienced workers to pass on their skills to the first timers.

Jacko grew up with trapping as a traditional livelihood and feels that forestry is a natural activity for First Nation entrepreneurs.

"I was always close to the land when I was growing up," he said. "We are still preserving trees and wildlife and habitat when we work in fire suppression."

To be an effective firefighter, a person needs "to be energetic and they have to love the outdoors," Jacko stressed. "They need lots of stamina to work for long periods on the fire line and to work from sun up to sun down."

A good sense of humor is essential, he said.

He recalled a funny incident one " hot, scorching day" on the fire line in Timmins. He and partner, Deanna Nabeau of Gogama, sweated for four hours cutting 2,500 feet of line to make a path to walk on and to lay the hose. While they were busy clearing the small black spruce trees, he mistook the hose for a tree and accidentally cut the hose. "The axe went through the hose and the water exploded in my face," he chuckled. "I was soaked, but I was actually relieved when the water came out because I was so tired and it was such a very hot day. The water was a refreshing joy for me." And his partner enjoyed a laugh at the sight of his surprised expression, he added.

Fighting fires in British Columbia gave Jacko valuable insights into the trickster nature of some veterans in the field. Although he had arrived with his own gear to fight a fire near Prince George, he was instructed to leave his equipment behind. Instead he was given a disposable sleeping bag and a 12 by 14 foot tarp.

"We weren't given a tent," he said. "We slept under the stars."

Greenhorns learn the ropes the hard way when they first start out on fire crews.

For instance, in British Columbia some of the Ontario crew were climbing hills en route to the fire and grabbing nearby brush for support. Unfortunately, the brush turned out to be a thorny plant known as "Devil's Club" and "the green guys from Ontario hadn't been warned to avoid it." The prickly thorns penetrated their gloves, shirts and pants and resulted in much discomfort.

In another incident, Jacko reported that his crew was issued with a chain saw with a very long bar. The supervisor told them to stick it in the ground and cut the root of stumps. "So we tried to do what they told us, and, of course, the blade just bent and warped. Turns out they were putting us on. They were playing a trick on us," Jacko said.

"But it's all in good fun. Nothing is ever done to endanger anyone."

There are often many surprises in store for participants in training sessions. The old timers might put stones in the bottom of a hose sack and then ask the novice firefighter to carry it or it might just be a pack full of rocks.

Jacko said "a lot of guys are eager for the upcoming season to begin. We will be in fll-scale training as soon as the ice and snow are gone." In-house training in first aid and workplace safety began in late March.