B.C.’s workplace regulator has leveled a hefty fine on the province for two wildfire fighting incidents from 2023, including one where a 25-year-old firefighter died in a vehicle rollover in the northeast.
It’s the second-largest fine issued by WorkSafeBC to the B.C. government related to the 2023 wildfire season, with a $710,000 fine issued last year for unsafe wildfire mitigation practices at a site outside of Fort St. John.
The 2023 wildfire season was the most destructive in the province’s history, when nearly 2,300 fires burned over 2.8 million hectares (28,401 square kilometres) and several first responders died.
“Emotionally challenging,” is how the province described it in a summary on its website, saying 2023 “will always be remembered for the tragic loss of six members of B.C.’s wildland firefighting community.”
Now, WorkSafeBC says the province must pay for deficiencies in work safety that it says contributed to one of those deaths.
“The statutory maximum penalty reflects the seriousness of the violations,” said the agency in an emailed statement.
It said the purpose of the fine is to “motivate the employer receiving the penalty — and other employers — to comply with occupational health and safety legislation and regulation, and to keep their workplaces safe.”
Zak Muise, who worked for firefighting contractor Bigcat Wildfire, died on July 28, 2023 when his heavy-duty all-terrain vehicle rolled over a steep drop on a gravel road in a remote area about 150 kilometres north of Fort St. John.
He had been helping battle the massive Donnie Creek wildfire, which is the largest recorded in the province’s history.
WorkSafeBC said on its website that Muise was with a supervisor at the time and neither were wearing a helmet.
The penalty summary regarding the $759,368.84 fine, imposed on Sept. 25, also said a passenger seatbelt was not used and passenger-side retention netting had been damaged.
Mike Smesman, the owner of operator of Bigcat Wildfire says he’s thankful for the WorkSafeBC investigation — but told CBC News the loss of Muise was devastating.
“It was a hard thing to have go through as a company,” he said. “It’s never easy when you lose anybody.”
The second incident that led to WorkSafeBC’s fine relates to five Brazilian firefighters who were trapped by flames during a planned burn in the province’s Shuswap’s region in August 2023.
WorkSafeBC determined that a lack of planning, training, and communication were contributing factors, and some of the employer’s safety program and operations manual had not been followed.
“The employer failed to provide its workers with the information, instruction, training, and supervision necessary to ensure their health and safety, a repeated and high-risk violation,” says the penalty summary.
CBC News has asked the Ministry of Forests for reaction to the fine and if it plans to appeal it. It did not immediately provide a response.
Smesman says he’s hopeful the province will pay the fine and ensure worker safety in firefighting.
“Obviously you can’t put a price tag on anybody’s life,” he said. “I hope they just … embrace it and move forward with it and try to be better.”
WorkSafeBC has said its penalty amounts are based both on the size of the employer’s payroll and the nature of the violation.
Increased penalties can be handed down for high-risk circumstances, or if the employer has been penalized for something similar in the last three years.
In October 2023, when the province was fined $710,488.79 — a record at the time for the largest fine ever issued by WorkSafeBC — it appealed the amount, arguing it was arbitrary, disproportionately high, and calculated using the entire B.C. government’s payroll.
WorkSafeBC said the administrative penalty was cancelled following the review process, but did not offer further explanation.
