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55| O akville B eaver | T hursday,S eptem ber 27,2018 insidehalton.com Liam Burbidge had a few close calls this sum-few close calls this sum-f mer - like narrowly miss- ing lightning strikes and falling trees. falling trees. f All part of the job for the Oakville resident and firefighter graduate, 21,firefighter graduate, 21,f who spent five months fighting wildfires in thefighting wildfires in thef Yukon.Yukon.Y "I almost died a bunch of times," he said, noncha- lantly, adding he got dropped off at work each day by helicopter. To end up fighting for- est fires was definitely a thrill, but it came with its share of scary moments. He said there was one occasion when a lightning storm came out of no- where and the helicopter landed to take them back to base camp. Another day, while eat- ing lunch on the outskirts of a burned out area, a burned tree fell, nearly hit- ting him. "You have to be really cautious around the for- ests - trees are falling all the time," he explained. "A gust of wind picks up when you least expect it, like eat- ing your lunch or watch- ing someone show you how to do something. "You have got to be wary of trees falling all around you and to keep your hel- met on all the time." His mom, Karen Ste- phens is glad to have her son back home, but said she feels confident that Liam knows what he is do- ing. "I am so unbelievably proud of my son," she said. "He dedicated himself to working out at least twice a day and eating a healthy, strict diet for the past two years, preparing him for that phone call. "It goes to show you that hard, dedicated work and belief in yourself that you can do anything. I have not seen my son so happy. Ev- ery photo he sent me, he was never without a huge smile." Burbidge said he sur- prised his mom at their Oakville home when he ar- rived back from his experi- ence, not telling his two siblings, or anyone he was coming back. Since then, he's been catching up on sleep and sharing his many adventures. "I've told her everything that happened while I was out there," he said, noting it was good to see the fami- ly dog and cat again too. "She is OK with me going back again. She knows I know what I'm doing." Burbidge said it was great to meet new people and good to be able to uti- lize the different experi- ences of everyone in the crew. Burbidge arrived in Whitehorse, April 28, after only four days notice that he had gotten the job. In fact, he pondered what tofact, he pondered what tof do when he first found out, especially since he was currently working two dif- ferent jobs. He spoke toferent jobs. He spoke tof one of his bosses, and fami- ly members, and everyone agreed, getting on a plane was the right move. Although it was a hectic few days, he was able to getfew days, he was able to getf a flight and pack a few be- longings. Upon arrival, he was fortunate to have an auntfortunate to have an auntf who lived 10 minutes from boot camp, and was able to drive him around. Initially, he took part in boot camp, including time in the classroom, an inten- sive and gruelling physical fitness examination andfitness examination andf written exams. He also had to take part in helicopter hover exit training, in case they were ever dropped somewhere they were not able to land. "It was a good introduc- tion, and afterward, I found out that I got thefound out that I got thef Haines Junction job. Four people form crews, and al- though Burbidge planned to spend the summer in a tent, one of his crew mem- bers invited him to stay with him. "I was all set to tent it out for the summer," he said, but happy to have a roof over his head instead. With no darkness at night in the Yukon, he quickly learned to tinfoil his windows, but that had the downside effect of making him think it was six a.m. when it was al- ready noon. Other experiences at Haines Junction, Yukon included time spent on the main highway, ensuring no vehicles got stranded and that the fire didn't spread from one side of the highway - where it was burning the hottest - to the other. One of those days near the Kluane Mountain Ridges, (where you can see the glacier mountains - the largest in Canada) after no vehicles had come by for more than three hours, his supervisor took his crew to the fire's head. In Burbidge's words, "I got to see the head of the fire - the hottest and fas-fire - the hottest and fas-f test moving part of the fire," he said. "There wasfire," he said. "There wasf fire and heat all around fire and heat all around f OAKVILLE FIREFIGHTER TAKES ON WILDFIRES IN THE YUKON THIS SUMMER JULIE SLACK jslack@metroland.com NEWS LIAM BURBIDGE DODGED FALLING TREES, LIGHTNING STRIKES IN ADVENTUROUS JOB Liam Burbidge, 21, a graduate of the firefighter program at Georgian College, spent the summer fighting wildfires in the Yukon. Liam Burbidge/Special See TORCHING, page 56