operations assistant

communications assistant

BC Wildfire Service

What is the best part of working at the company?
Being able to work outdoors and do something different almost every day

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Being on the fireline, and hazing is still a problem within the industry even though it is not technically allowed

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Very old school and military like. Hazing is generally seen as normal and you are encouraged by peers to ignore work injuries and work yourself into the dirt

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
There is no typical day in wildfire but around base you will generally do upkeep, organization of gear and project work consisting of maintaining rec sites, burning piles and other general upkeep of local forests/recreational areas

There's many great things about working at BC Wildfire Service.  If you like the outdoors and being physical it's great.   There's not a lot of jobs that offer you one hour of paid fitness a day.   You can make a lot of money if it's a busy season  The problem is firefighting attracts a lot of narcissistic types.  These people end up moving into management positions because they never move on because they love the recognition they get as Wildfire fighter.  A lot of times these folks aren't good firefighters.  They're just good at lying, brown nosing and throwing people under the bus.  It's not a merit based job.  While it used to be common to have a crew leader with 10 seasons, you're lucky now if you get one with two seasons.  It's a good stepping stone for other careers though

What is the best part of working at the company?
the people made hard work more enjoyable

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
working in the heat, pressure to do a good job but also work quickly


What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
good culture always improving to have more balance but still very work all summer based culture

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
show up, workout, morning weather brief, base chores, equipment maintenance, go work on project or go to fire

If you like adventure and don’t mind getting dirty BCWS is pretty fun. Lot of great people on the crews, management can be hit or miss depending on where you are based. 
The organization has some pretty bad retention problems mostly related to poor pay relative to the amount of work and sacrifices made by their core employees. Need to have some serious changes made to hiring, pay, boys club culture, mental health support and work/life balance if they want people to say longer then 3-5 years. Spicy summers are burning crews out fast. 

As part of the Corporate Services team in the Finance section we completed contracts, accounts payable functions and employee enrollments and timesheets.

Completing the tasks in a timely manner when workload tripled due to the Wildfire Services activities.

Loved working with this crew, they become some of your best friends even the leaders. It is all about teamwork and if you work hard and improve your skills you can get great opportunities within the wildfire service. Continued leaning and training, and fighting fires is a grind but it feels good and you get immediate gratification for the work you are doing.

Fun Work Environment, Lots of Opportunity, Hard to Find a work life balance. The crews and people and are best, you'll meet so many amazing people. The work environment is difficult and a challenge. Raising a family with this work/life balance would be difficult

This job teaches many skills that can be used everyday for the rest of your life. It teaches responsibility, and how to think on your feet in a sticky situation. The working atmosphere allows and encourages individuality.

People are very nice, supportive and helpful. Best team ever.
team works in different places, communication for everyday is through MS teams. Boss is super organize. This company values mental health, bullying and harassment very seriously.

The work is exhausting and not for everyone, but both the people and experience are amazing. Don't recommend unless physically and mentally fit, with a desire to challenge yourself. 

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Operations assistant 3 salaries reported	$48,538 per year
Communications assistant 1 salary reported	$54,939 per year

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