By Aaron Hemens, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, IndigiNews Growing up in the bush in the mountains around snpink\u2019tn (Penticton) in syilx Okanagan territories, Charles Kruger\u2019s family taught him how to start fires when he was no older than five. \u201cBeing able to start a fire really young was crucial,\u201d said Kruger, who is of syilx Okanagan and Sinixt ancestry. \u201cBecause we live off the land \u2014 deer, moose, elk, grouse, stuff like that \u2014 being able to start a fire in the rain, in the snow, is super important. That\u2019s a skill in itself.\u201d Kruger comes from a long line of hereditary fire chiefs, stretching back \u201cmany hundreds of years,\u201d he said. \u201cMy grandma would be the one to tell everybody when to burn. She was the fire-keeper, I guess… <\/p>\n
By Aaron Hemens, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, IndigiNews Growing up in the bush in the mountains around snpink\u2019tn (Penticton) in syilx Okanagan territories, Charles Kruger\u2019s family taught him how to start fires when he was no older than five. \u201cBeing able to start a fire really young was crucial,\u201d said Kruger, who is of syilx Okanagan and Sinixt ancestry. \u201cBecause we live off the land \u2014 deer, moose, elk, grouse, stuff like that \u2014 being able to start a fire in the rain, in the snow, is super important. That\u2019s a skill in itself.\u201d Kruger comes from a long line of hereditary fire chiefs, stretching back \u201cmany hundreds of years,\u201d he said. \u201cMy grandma would be the one to tell everybody when to burn. She was the fire-keeper, I guess... <\/p>\n