Union links pay and training gaps to the province's workplace safety charges
Alberta's Ministry of Forestry and Parks is facing six charges under the province's Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Act, laid July 29, 2026, over the death of wildland firefighter Morgan Kitchen, 24, of Calgary, who was fatally struck by a falling tree on August 3, 2024, while battling the wildfire that tore through Jasper National Park, as detailed in our earlier coverage of the OHS charges against Alberta's Forestry Ministry.
James Gault, vice-president of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE), which represents Alberta's wildland firefighters, told Canadian Occupational Safety the charges validate concerns his union has raised for years about pay, training and hazard communication on the fire line.
Charges land almost two years to the day
"We were somewhat shocked by it. They have a two year timeline to lay this charge. And Morgan tragically passed away on August 3rd, so this was almost two years to the date," Gault said. "It's very rare for the Crown to be held accountable through Occupational Health and Safety here in Alberta. At least we were grateful to see it, but somewhat shocked by it also."
The charges allege the ministry failed to ensure worker safety by not adequately assessing and controlling hazards from dangerous trees, and failed to maintain an area excluding workers from a hazardous, unassessed place, according to Alberta Occupational Health and Safety. The OHS Act sets a two-year limitation period on such prosecutions; the charges were filed five days before that window closed. Gault said the alleged failures, including gaps in worker training and hazard recognition, echo concerns AUPE has raised for years at the bargaining table.
Pay and turnover fuel training gaps
Alberta deploys roughly 500 to 550 seasonal wildland firefighters each year, Gault said, though the province has cited a figure closer to 1,000. At the time of Kitchen's death, seasonal crew members earned $22 an hour and needed close to four seasons to move up the pay grid, a structure Gault said pushed experienced firefighters toward better-paying jobs elsewhere.
"They'd work here for one year, get the experience fighting fires, and then go work for the Canadian government, for Parks Canada, or go to B.C. or Ontario, that offer signing bonuses," Gault said. "We are constantly bringing in less and less people who are trained to fight the fires. The government needs to do something to retain and recruit."
A recent collective agreement now lets seasonal firefighters move up the pay grid after 90 days and a return season, rather than three or four full seasons, a change Gault expects will improve retention. Ontario is contending with its own wildland firefighter staffing and retention shortage this fire season. Gault said classroom training can't replace experience on an active fire line; Hinton's facility trains firefighters well, he said, but the Jasper fire behaved differently than crews had previously seen, with its own weather and lightning patterns.
Zombie fires create hidden hazards
Gault also raised what AUPE calls ghost or zombie fires.
"We have what are called ghost fires, more commonly called zombie fires out here because of the peat moss," Gault said. "We have fires that continue to burn all year underground, which causes a lot of the root structures of these trees to be damaged. When we get to the fires that happen, the damage is already done to the bottom of the trees, causing what would be called snags, or dangerous trees. The government has always had the ability to monitor that and to make sure that they have safe environments, and they don't."
Alberta has carried over 25 to 30 zombie fires in a single year, Gault said, and hazard information about known burn zones isn't always passed to the out-of-province and international crews brought in during major wildfires. He was careful to note he could not discuss the specific circumstances of Kitchen's death, and said the Jasper fire itself was not a carryover zombie fire.
Gault also renewed AUPE's push for presumptive cancer coverage for firefighters across Canada, which he said several other provinces already provide.
"Our wildland firefighters here do not get presumptive cancer coverage," Gault said. "They're out there fighting these fires and they don't get any type of cancer coverage. We've had members who have died in the last couple of years due to cancer, and the government says you didn't get it from fighting the wildfires."
A name, not a statistic
Kitchen will be honoured at this year's national firefighters' memorial service in Ottawa, expected in mid-September, the first Alberta wildland firefighter recognized there in years, according to Gault.
"Morgan Kitchen's not a statistic," Gault said. "He is a 24 year old man who tragically passed away doing what he loved to do. It doesn't matter if you're a Crown corporation or a private corporation, the employer has the duty to make sure that people are safe at work."
