麻豆约拍

Over the past few weeks, many people in the northern hemisphere have been affected by extreme heatwaves. Wildfires have burned around parts of Europe, the US and North Africa. While it's usually good to get away from these dangerous fires, there are a few men and women who head right towards the smoke.

Whitney Lindsay from Texas, Jonathon Golden in Utah, Chris Ashby in Oregon are wildland firefighters - specialist firefighters trained to battle the largest and the most dangerous wildfires across America. They tell us what it is like to do one of the most dangerous jobs in the world and why they choose to do it.

Whitney recalls the large Cameron Peak fire how a flying super-tanker dumped a massive amount of fire retardant on her crew. Chris says he has been in situations where he thought "this might be it for me" and has had to flee to safety zones. Meanwhile Jonathon remembers how a "seemingly benign fire" in Frank Church wilderness in Idaho turned into a "200,000 acre fire".

They also describe how droughts bought about by climate change have forced them to use water taken from people's private swimming pools and have made fire seasons much longer. Despite the job being rewarding it can often be difficult to find a good work-life balance, which is often the reason many firefighters choose to leave the profession. They talk about how the pressures of the job can impact on their mental health but also explain how support fellow wildland firefighters, strong relationships, shared experiences and camaraderie helps pull them through the darker days.

(Photo: Firefighter Whitney Lindsay. Credit: Whitney Lindsay)

Show less