Living and breathing with wildfire smoke

By Matteo Cimellaro  Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Wilfred Tomma is no stranger to fire. Now in his 80s, Uncle Wilfred, as he’s known to many on his First Nation in B.C., has war stories of the years he fought fires, especially the big Dean inferno. Some days, he was so tired working the firelines that he would forget to eat and would fall asleep where he stood, waking up in a pool of water. “I remember those times. I remember a lot,” he said with a long pause. “Sad but true. The young folks today as they live with the fire. I don’t think they would ever come close to the real nature of a fire. They would never want to be caught next to a big fire like that.”…

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