B.C. Wildfire Service firefighter injured by falling tree at chainsaw training site

Firefighters are seen during Coastal First Nations Wildland Firefighter Boot Camp in spring 2024. (B.C. Wildfire Service)

A firefighter with the B.C. Wildfire Service was injured by a tree strike in Merritt, B.C., earlier this month, according to officials.

WorkSafeBC included the incident in a roundup of recent workplace injuries and close calls published on its website Monday.

The agency described the incident as causing “multiple injuries” to one worker.

“A group of workers were conducting basic chainsaw training at a field site when a suspected dangerous tree (65 cm in diameter, 27 m tall), previously assessed as a safe tree for the work activity, unexpectedly fell,” WorkSafe’s summary of the incident reads.

“The tree struck a young worker about 30 feet from the tree’s base.”

The BCWS confirmed the incident to CTV News on Tuesday, saying in a statement that it had occurred on June 10.

“First aid attendants supported the patient until they were transferred to a higher level of care,” the wildfire service said.

“Once assessed, the patient was discharged home.”

The BCWS said the tree had been deemed safe “in accordance with danger tree assessment standards” before the incident.

“As with any injury or accident, an investigation was conducted by the B.C. Wildfire Service and WorkSafeBC,” the service said.

Last summer, the BCWS came under fire from WorkSafeBC for multiple violations and missteps that preceded the 2023 death of 19-year-old wildland firefighter Devyn Gale.

Gale died while she was cutting a downed tree into logs on a rugged hillside northwest of Revelstoke. Firefighters working alongside her had expressed grave concern about the burning cedar tree that fell on her before it toppled.

• Read more: Tree that killed 19-year-old B.C. firefighter was flagged as dangerous before it fell: WorkSafeBC

With files from CTV News Vancouver’s Todd Coyne