When wildfires began rapidly spreading across Manitoba in May — the start of a fire season that forced 32,000 out of their homes — the province was short dozens of fire rangers, and 25 per cent of its wildfire division positions were vacant, CBC has learned.
The numbers, obtained by CBC News through freedom of information laws, show on May 12, roughly one in four full-time positions within the Wildfire Service were vacant, and a further 64 seasonal fire ranger positions hadn’t been filled.
The 15 full-time vacancies included three fire managers, six fire operations managers and a regional fire technician.
Operations managers are responsible for “key aspects” of the province’s wildfire management program in areas like prevention, detection and fire suppression operations, according to a description of the position released in the documents.
The records show the operations manager position that is responsible for managing the province’s air attack program had been vacant since April 2024.
Meanwhile, the positions of the manager in charge of equipment purchases and the manager who develops the wildfire mitigation plan both have been vacant since 2023.
Records provided by a government spokesperson show the Wildfire Service has consistently been unable to fill its budgeted fire ranger seasonal positions each year.
Jesse Guenther, the co-owner of Nopiming Lodge, was given just two hours notice to evacuate on May 12, when an out-of-control wildfire, about 5,000 hectares in size, tore through Nopiming Provincial Park.
He left in a convoy surrounded by flames as water bombers arrived to try to tame the fire.
“It’s a lack of preparedness, in my opinion,” Guenther said about the vacancies and unfilled positions.
Guenther was impressed by the fire crews’ response — the fire moved fast and crews were able to safely evacuate everyone, he said. However, he questions why there were so many vacancies.
“It would be nice just to be prepared for an event like this, because it seems to be getting worse and worse every season,” he said.
In the aftermath, the wildfires forced the closure of most campgrounds at Nopiming Provincial Park for the rest of the summer.
“We took a huge hit,” he said.
The loss of foot traffic for the store and fewer rentals at the lodge meant he lost about 50 per cent of his typical revenue, he said.
The Wildfire Service was budgeted to hire 301 seasonal fire rangers in 2025, but when the wildfires began, they had only hired 237, the records say.
The number of fire rangers stayed at that level for the duration of the wildfire season, according to records from the union that represents the rangers.
“It’s really unfortunate, when we have a season like we had this year, that we didn’t have the people we needed to do the work,” said Kyle Ross, president of the Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union, who represents both rangers and wildfire division staff.
This year’s wildfire season was the worst in 30 years, with over 430 wildfires to date, more than 2.1 million hectares of land burned and over 32,000 people evacuated from their communities.
Fire rangers are the “boots on the ground,” whose job is to stop the fire from spreading and keep people and property safe, Ross said.
“They’re the first line of defence when it comes to a fire,” he said.
Hiring fire rangers is a challenge, because Manitoba pays less than other provinces, Ross said.
Data from the federal government suggests Manitoba fire rangers make some of the lowest pay in Canada — $13/hour less than they would in British Columbia, where many more rangers are employed.
A fire ranger, also known as a wildland firefighter or fire management officer, is a professional responsible for preventing and managing wildfires, ensuring public safety and protecting natural resources in forested or wilderness areas, according to the Manitoba Government.
Natural Resources Minister Ian Bushie said the government’s goal for next season is to have no vacancies.
This season started early and resources were stretched across the country as other provinces fought their own fires, Bushie said.
“Recruitment and retention, I think, has been a priority for us across all levels of government, but in particular on the wildfire service,” he said.
Bushie said overall, the response to the wildfires was “significant,” and the vacancies didn’t “hamper our ability to address a fire season like this one.”
A spokesperson for Bushie said in an email statement that the number of unfilled fire rangers positions improved from previous years.
There were 65 unfilled in 2024, 77 unfilled in 2023 and 97 in 2022, spokesperson Caedmon Malowany said.
Fire rangers are not the only ones who respond to wildfires, Malowany said. They work with municipal and volunteer fire services and get help from other provinces.
Dozens of firefighting positions unfilled when Manitoba wildfires began in May
