Northerners learn firefighting skills at 'Beat the Heat' training program in Dawson City, Yukon

A group of people from across the North are in Dawson City, Yukon, this week, putting their physical and mental skills to the challenge and learning what it takes to be a wildland firefighter.

And at least one of the trainees at this month's "Beat the Heat" bootcamp is a wildfire evacuee from Yellowknife.

Yukon First Nations Wildfire (YFNW) organizes the training program. Hyder Bos-Jabber, director of training preparedness for YFNW, said he's excited to be doing it in Dawson City. The program runs until this weekend.

"Historically we've had a harder time recruiting people into communities, and if we're able to create a pool of locals who want to follow this as a passion, you know, it just makes everyone's life a lot easier," he said.

Bos-Jabbar said people are more likely to work harder when they're trying to protect their own backyards.

Johnny Koe from Fort McPherson, N.W.T., spoke to CBC News while the group learned how to operate water pumps.

"I'm enjoying it," he said. "It's a nice hands-on training. It's like we're out in the field."

Koe and his fellow trainees were taught how to set up a pump, how to prime the pump, how to handle hoses, and how to add extensions to the hose while still pumping water from the river.

Koe does landscaping work back home but he said after taking this program he might have found his new calling.

"You learn to look out for one another and keep one another safe ," he said. "I want to be out there. I want to put everything I've been taught here out in the field next year. I want to be the one they call."

Koe said he's not only acquiring news skills and confidence to help protect his community next fire season, he's also forming a strong bond with the other participants, who he now considers his family.

Dez Dzik decided she would give the program a try when she found out it was being offered in Dawson City.

"I'm from Saskatchewan but moved up here in May," she said. "I'm a city firefighter volunteer and that's what inspired me to do this."

Asked about the training so far, Dzik said it was "amazing but difficult."

"I love a challenge. I do it to inspire Indigenous youth, and also I want to prove that women can do anything men can."

Dzik said she is also encouraged by her fellow trainees. She said she is proud to be a part of a group that wants to help their communities.

"It's just inspiring. The fact that we're all here struggling together and high-fiving each other after ... It's just amazing."

Charlotte Morritt-Jacobs didn't expect to be part of the program, until her life back home just outside Yellowknife was disrupted by wildfire and she was forced to flee along with thousands of other evacuees.

She initially came to Whitehorse to stay with some friends, along with her four-month-old son and her dog. Her partner had stayed back in Yellowknife to help with firefighting efforts there.

In Whitehorse, Morritt-Jacobs happened to hear about the Beat the Heat program through a radio ad.

"As soon as I heard the ad I jumped online," she said. "To do this training, it was kind of a scramble."

Luckily she was able to secure childcare and find a kennel to take her dog while she took part in the program.

"It's kind of been on my radar for a few years," she said. "Being out in the bush ... It's just something I enjoy, using a chainsaw, using a water pump even to get my own water supply living off-grid."

Morritt-Jacobs is a journalist by trade but like Koe, she might try to pursue fire management after taking this program.

"Maybe next season I'll be able to take maybe some leave from work to explore another career opportunity," she said.

"I'm really so grateful that I came to the Yukon. It was the right time ... the right place, to make the most out of kind of a tough situation, with the evacuation."