Show follows lives of Alberta firefighters
Hellfire Heroes TV series filmed in Lesser Slave Lake, Yellowhead
When you live in a rural area, the local firefighter is both the first, and the last, line of defence.
That stark reality is what motivated producers of a new reality series to follow two Alberta firefighting crews through four months of calls to come up with the new TV series Hellfire Heroes, an up-close look at the rigours of working as a small firefighting crew in a big wilderness.
Debuting Tuesday, May 22, at 8 p.m. MST on Discovery Canada, Hellfire Heroes is an eight-part series that concentrates on two rural Alberta firefighting units — the Lesser Slave Lake Regional Fire Service (responsible for a territory of roughly 20,000 square kilometres) and the Yellowhead County Fire Department (which covers 10,000 square kilometres). The series is by Montreal-based Pixcom, which has created a number of reality programs about people who work in tough and often risky environments, including oilfield workers in the Arctic (License to Drill) and pilots who deliver aircraft (Dangerous Flights).
“The idea was to be there with those guys, sleeping with them in the firehall at night, when they get a 911 call from the woman who just hit a deer on the highway while on the way to the hospital to have a baby,” says Pixcom producer Nicole Merola.
Battling blazes is just one of the many tasks of the rural firefighter. They often are the first to arrive on an accident scene, and must deal with any manner of diverse situations, from the proverbial cat up a tree, to search-and-rescue missions, to freeing a teenager who finds himself trapped in a toddler swing at the playground.
“They really risk their lives, their health, in order to save others and there is something extremely touching about that,” says Merola. “They never second-guess, they just go. They’re genuine heroes.”
One of the firefighters profiled in the first episode is Gabby Sundstrom, 28, a lieutenant at Station 12 in Yellowhead County, which has a firehall in Edson. She initially joined a volunteer firefighting unit along with her sister some eight years ago when the two women, both farm-raised, were looking for a way to give back to the community.
Her experience runs from rescuing a man trapped in a recliner to three days spent fighting The Beast in Fort McMurray.
“Fort McMurray was the first time I’d seem something on that large a scale. I learned a lot of new things and got very little sleep,” says Sundstrom. “It was cool to see that when you’re in trouble, the province pulls together, and the firefighting family pulls together.”
One of the biggest challenges of rural firefighting is the vast distances that must be covered. Also, water sources are not always readily available and water has to be trucked in. Staffing is an issue, as well. Many rural firefighters are volunteers who are compensated financially to some extent. But they have to be available to work on short notice, or to take lengthy training sessions. Most people don’t have that flexibility in their lives.
They really risk their lives, their health, in order to save others and there is something extremely touching about that.
Sundstrom says her work is often difficult, dangerous and stressful. But if people want to contribute to rural firefighting, there are less taxing positions.
“There is a job for everyone. Within our fire department, we have people who don’t have as much time to give, but they want to help somehow.”
Some volunteers may run special equipment, staff a support trailer, bring food or fill air bottles.
“Those things are a huge help,” says Sundstrom.
While the job is physically and mentally demanding, Sundstrom hopes to be a rural firefighter for a long time.
She loves the variety, and helping people get through difficult times. She values being the place where folks turn when they don’t know who else to call.
“It seems that if somebody can’t figure it out, they call the fire department. If nothing else, we have a lot of tools and a lot of people who are really smart and can help figure it out somehow.”