When Reese Lange was in kindergarten, she dreamed of joining the police. But it was in high school that she realized her true calling.
She said the tragedy had bonded her class of 31 student firefighters, underscoring their shared goals of saving lives and watching each other’s backs.The BC Wildfire Service said in a statement that it employs about 1,600 seasonal personnel each year, and about a third are post-secondary students working during their summer vacation.
“We don’t see a big increase of volunteerism for those four months that students are back at home, away from school,” he said. In May, Uwazny and Lange spent five or six evenings fighting wildfires that burned about 62 square kilometres in Parkland County, west of Edmonton.Seeing a wildfire up close for the first time was an “unreal and crazy” experience, said Lange.