It's happening again: wildland fires are raging,
and adjacent homes are being threatened.

Due to the growing number of homes in Canada's wildland/urban interface, it is almost inevitable that wildland and structural firefighters will find themselves in dangerous role reversals for which they may not be adequately trained or equipped. For example, wildland fire fighters may be called on to protect threatened homes, and structural fire fighters may be called on to help battle the surrounding blazes in the wildlands.

In addition to the obvious difference of size, wildland fires and structure fires differ in that wildland fires require:

• more personnel, some of whom may have little or no fire fighting experience
• more resources spread out over a larger area.

Because of these factors, wildland fires present personal safety concerns to three areas:

• the fire fighter
• the area immediately surrounding the fire fighter
• the overall environment of the fire itself.

The most direct way to improve the safety of both structural and wildland fire fighters is cross-training of all fire fighters and improved equipment.

While cross-training is being done in some regions throughout the country, it is still not standard practice everywhere. Until cross-training programs become universal, awareness may be the tool that saves lives.