Heat presses against the cab’s glass as flames dance just metres away, but for Manitoba’s frontline wildfire workers, retreat is not an option. While headlines gravitate to the scale of disaster, the pulse of hope beats in the unheralded hands steering bulldozers, piloting helicopters, and keeping railway lines alive—real people, unseen, making the difference between devastation and survival.
Manitoba’s current wildfire season is merciless. With 29 blazes raging—ten of them uncontained—over 21,000 evacuees have fled scorched earth, their safety tethered to a network of workers whose names rarely appear in the papers. The work is relentless and often perilous, as Clifford Nabess, a track supervisor with Keewatin Railway Company, knows all too well. “It’s the only real lifeline besides the airport that gets to the community of Pukatawagan,” Nabess remarked, having felt fire “raining on the window” as he and his team delivered water, the last barrier between flames and the vital train bridges serving two isolated communities.
While rail workers race to protect infrastructure, the air above churns with activity. Rob Brunken, a pilot with Columbia Helicopters, guides water-laden choppers through smoke so dense visibility nearly vanishes. Their mission isn’t flashy heroics. Instead, it’s calculated support—dousing hot spots and herding fire toward ground crews ready to strike. “The ground crews are really what makes the big difference,” Brunken noted. Air support acts as shepherd, allowing heavy machinery operators like Gary Lajambe to move in.
Bulldozers, under Lajambe’s command, churn dry Manitoba soil, carving life-saving firebreaks. These artificial scars in the forest halt advancing flames—unless relentless winds conspire against them. Lajambe’s observation of unprecedented dryness and dust signals a volatile season ahead, where every metre of cleared earth can spell the difference between loss and reprieve.
For the residents forced to leave their homes, and those left with charred landscapes where forests once stood, the stories of survival are written by these labourers—ordinary people, extraordinary resolve. They are not just part of the response; they are the reason communities endure. Their work is grit made manifest, measured not in accolades but in the lives and livelihoods preserved.
Recognizing these individuals is more than an act of gratitude—it’s acknowledgment of the quiet forces shaping recovery. As wildfires test the limits of policy and preparedness, it is the human response, the willingness to drive through fire or bulldoze earth until dusk, that will define Manitoba’s resilience.
References:
Pilots, heavy machine operators and rail workers step up to front lines of Manitoba wildfire fight
Northern Sask. mayor calls province’s wildfire evacuation response ‘disgusting’
