Chilcotin Ravens Unit Crew – Cariboo Fire Centre

Location

Alexis Creek

Established

2004

Current Crew Photo

Crew History

In 2004, the British Columbia Forest Service Protection Program, with support from local First Nations, began a new Type 1 Fire Suppression Unit Crew. That unit crew would be soon known as the Chilcotin Ravens.

Originating as an Indigenous crew, built from 14 members of various Tsilhqot’in nations and communities, the Ravens made their home in Alexis Creek – a small, rural ranching community in the eastern Chilcotin central to many of the communities and nations from which its members came.

Between 2015 and 2018, the crew began to dwindle in numbers. By 2019, the crew had lost its final longstanding Indigenous member. However, a collaborative effort between the Cariboo Fire Centre, the local First Nations, and Chilcotin Zone resulted in the creation of the inaugural First Nations Bootcamp which was held at the Puntzi Forward Attack base in the spring of 2021. In the years that followed, several successful candidates from local First Nations communities joined the Ravens through yearly bootcamps.

Today, the crew is made up of a variety of people from different backgrounds, walks of life, and locations. The crew culture, as well as the live-on-base element, have allowed the Ravens to form a tight-knit community in “the Creek” spending much time with each other both on and off the fireline. From participating in the famous Alexis Creek Trap Shoot and weekly softball nights, to cattle branding at the Chezacut Ranch, the Ravens continue to take pride in enveloping themselves within the local communities and the rustic culture of the Chilcotin.