2021 Micro-Grant Recipient: Andrew Base (Canadian Wildfire Network)
About Andrew and the CWN:
My name is Andrew, and I am an Ecosystem Management Technologist and Wildland Firefighter that has been fortunate enough to have worked throughout Ontario and in other corners of my country. Wanting to fill a void in Canada for online representation and having a nationwide support system, I started the Canadian Wildfire Network, and as the name suggests, we are made up of a broad network of Wildland Fire Professionals across the country who are putting in great work for our organization.
Grant Category: Writing
Canadian Recipient
The Canadian Wildfire Network’s Cross-Country Series: Covering all aspects of the wildfire community from the Yukon to Newfoundland
Project Vision:
The overarching mission of the Canadian Wildfire Network is to build better wildland firefighters, connect them through the industry and provide up-to-date insight into what is going on in our fiery world. We want to provide an opportunity for wildland firefighters to build connections with each other nationwide, and develop a centralized knowledge-sharing community where we can share lessons learned from the field. The articles and interviews published through the Canadian Wildfire Network’s Cross-Country Series will achieve these goals by giving both the general public and members of the community insight into what firefighting looks like across the country. Our goal for the series is to showcase the myriad of forms that wildland firefighting takes in Canada, from Indigenous knowledge-based wildfire management groups in the Yukon, to the versatile roles that Natural Resource Officers take on in Newfoundland (along with everything else in between!).
Current Work:
Favorite thing about firefighting:
My favourite thing about wildland fire has got to be the connections we make and the incredible life lessons we learn from the work we do. I love how this job really teaches you how to cherish the people around you and how to appreciate the simple things that come your way in life.