What does being a forest firefighter mean to you?

Forest firefighter is a challenging job, the physical and mental demands of the job are so high. The job involves all aspects of fire protection in remote or sometimes inaccessible locations in the forest.

At Katingan Mentaya Project, we, forest firefighters work in various capacities under a variety of jobs, which include prevention, control and suppression of fires around the project area. Most of the time, if not always, the threats come from outside our concession area. Our job also involves everything from fire education to budgeting for supplies, maintaining equipment, fighting fires, and assessing fire damage.

Do firefighters work on a team?

Yes, we always work on a team. The teams consist of both project-employed firefighters and community firefighters who have been organized and trained and are supervised by the project team. Generally, these teams are made up of people who have been trained to fire fight, but whose everyday job is other than fire, i.e., biodiversity, hydrology, logistics etc. There are approximately 500 people.

What is a typical day of a firefighter?

There is no typical day for this job. No day is ever the same. A large bonus of the job is that a majority of the work is done outside, meeting with local communities in the villages, raising awareness at schools or patrolling in the forest. If one did not enjoy being outside this would not be a good job for them but this job is always very fun and exciting for these reasons.

What do you pack with you when you’re out to patrol?

The list is long but the things I have with me every time are – GPS unit, two-way radio, first aid kit, camera, water bottle, watch and a machete.

When you get off a fire line what’s the first thing you reach for?

Washing my hands and grab cold drinks.

Fernandes was born and raised in North Sumatra. With the eagerness to study forest and live outside Sumatra island, he studied Forestry in Palangkaraya University in Central Kalimantan where he can step out of his hometown. When he’s not fighting fire for Katingan Mentaya Project, Fernandes is out and about exploring Mentaya river, fishing.