It was more than a decade ago that the Ontario government started to worry about its wildland firefighting program. Back in 2016, a report warned that fire rangers were quitting at an alarming rate, were less experienced than in previous years and were comparatively underpaid. Those issues have persisted ever since. Versions of the report repeated the warnings in 2018 and 2019, while an internal memo from 2022 warned of “an increase in the number of people leaving our organization for employment opportunities elsewhere.” In the last few years, several firefighters and the union representing them have pushed the issue again — urgently arguing that without change, Ontario will be caught short when big fires hit. The Ontario Public Service Employees Union has pushed for major pay increases, to reclassify wildland firefighters as firefighters, not resource technicians, and more year-round jobs.