When the Mooseland Road wildfire erupted, threatening the safety of Nova Scotians and causing people to flee from their homes, the Lowe family answered the call.
The Lowes are three generations of men from a Nova Scotia family who have nearly 100-years of combined experience fighting fires.
Currently, the Department of Natural Resources estimates the fire covers 1,447 hectares, the size of approximately 2,000 football fields.
The fire broke out last Wednesday, causing more than 100 people to evacuate their homes for days, while the Lowes and other firefighters have been working tirelessly to get them back home.
James Lowe has been a volunteer firefighter for more than half a century. When the wildfire broke out he helped provide water for the Structure Protection unit. James says joining the volunteer firefighters to help his community was just “something you did back in the day.”
He said he learned his sense of civic responsibility from his father, who fought in the Second World War.
“It’s a part of growing up. I don’t know, maybe you can attribute it to rural living,” said James. “Help your brother, help where it’s needed.”
James says he didn’t know his son and grandson would follow in his footsteps, but that he’s incredibly proud of them.
“Well, I’m awfully honoured, but I don’t know what they saw in me, it wasn’t anything planned,” said James. “I’m honoured with them, I think the Lord has blessed me incredibly.”
PHOTO: GOVERNMENT OF NOVA SCOTIA EMERGENCY INFORMATION
James’ son, John, has been serving as a District Chief with Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency for the last 11 years. Prior to that he was a volunteer firefighter in Moser River for 13 years, and spent eight years as a Department of Natural Resources firefighter.
He was one of the first emergency responders to arrive at the Mooseland Road wildfire.
John said he knew he wanted to be a firefighter from a young age, and that his father James inspired him to do his part. For John fighting fires is a family affair, even his wife and other son, the non-fire fighters in the household, pitch in to their part when duty calls.
“The whole family’s life goes on hold, and my wife and my other son kind of look after everything at home and make sure everything’s ready when we need to,” said John. “I made a call Wednesday night halfway through our time and asked my wife and son to throw on a bunch of cookies because we knew we were coming back the next day and needed something for nourishment. So they whipped that up and we’re ready for when we get back to bring in next Thursday.”
John and the rest of the Lowe family are no stranger to the demands of wildfire season. In 2023 John helped fight the Tantallon wildfires.
“Tantallon was a hard one for me, I spent 11 days on that one, I had to have my wife and sons get clothes ready for me and get them trucked up to me,” said John. “That was 11 days being away, which wasn’t easy, but the family looked after everything and the community helped out where they could.”
This year, John and his son Jackson have been putting in anywhere from 16 to 18 hour days, and James has been working 14 to 16 hour days.
PHOTO: GOVERNMENT OF NOVA SCOTIA EMERGENCY INFORMATION
With both his father and his son helping fight wildfires this year, John says he’ll listen for their voices on the two-way radio in stressful situations. He said he tries to keep his son Jackson at arms length so he can do his own work.
“I don’t want to embarrass him, he’s only 19,” explained John. “Daddy can’t come check up on him.”
Despite his young age, Jackson is already in his third summer of fighting wildfires. He said the Mooseland Road fire is the biggest he’s seen.
“This fire, it made me realize the size of it. We had to be flown out to different areas on a helicopter to be dropped off and scout the area,” said Jackson. “Just being up in the helicopter and getting to look at the size and vastness of the fire and everything that was affected.”
PHOTO: GOVERNMENT OF NOVA SCOTIA EMERGENCY INFORMATION
As a brush fire fighter, Jackson is flown into deeper parts of the forest to fight the fire where it’s thickest. Even when flying over the charred remains of trees or when feeling the heat of the flames, Jackson said he’s not intimidated.
“It definitely made me feel like as I was down there fighting, I had more people looking out for me than just my coworkers… I have family that were looking out for me.” said Jackson. “I grew up hearing about or seeing fire, so I’ve always been interested, I heard things, I kind of picked up on it and sort of gained the knowledge from the generations.”
Like both generations of Lowes before him, Jackson is fine with sacrificing time with friends and family to do his part. He said his mother is used to it at this point, and that his friends are supportive when he has to miss a baseball game or cancel plans.
While each generation has faced different challenges, their goal remains the same, helping to protect their community.
