Volunteer crews feel the strain of record wildfires

Long hours in the field in often unpredictable conditions are testing the mental health of the dwindling number of firefighters in rural areas

- Kyler Zeleny PARKLAND COUNTY, Leyland Cecco 

A wildfire crept - and then sprinted towards Fox A Creek, a community of fewer than 12,000 in northwest Alberta in May. At one point, the crackling wall of flames and thick black smoke moved more than 48km in a single day, prompting frantic evacuations from the town.

"It was terrifying," said Angela Martineau, a paramedic. "I was told it was going to be on my doorstep at this time, then at this time... [There were] a lot of anxieties and emotions for those first six days." But unlike other locals who threw belongings into suitcases and fled, Martineau and her husband, Wade, stayed to face down the blaze as volunteer firefighters, determined to help save their community.

Canada's record-breaking wildfires have forced more than 120,000 people from their homes and burned through more than 10m hectares- a 1,100% increase over the 10-year average. Smoke from the fires has drifted thousands of kilometres to choke cities across North America.