CARROT RIVER — Bryce Lytle’s journey into the field of firefighting began when he was 19, starting a new job in Vermillion, Alta.
The local fire chief, who worked at the same place, saw Lytle, who had just moved from Drumheller, Alta. and recruited him to the fire department back in 2010.
“After that it was pretty much history,” Lytle said. “I got to go out on my first call and absolutely loved it.”
Fast forwarding to today, Lytle is the new fire chief of the Carrot River Fire Department. He starts the job on Aug. 27 but he dropped by the Carrot River Fire Hall July 24 to meet his new team.
After getting hooked on firefighting, Lytle started his National Fire Protection Associate 1001 Professional Firefighter Training course at Lakeland College in Vermillion. Then he did the 1002-level course. Then the 1041-level course.
“Every time I had a vacation or a day off, I went back to Lakeland and got more courses,” he said.
Soon, he was instructing firefighters for the local county.
“I got a little introduction into instruction,” he said. “Once I had it and had a taste for it, I was able to start giving the knowledge that I learned in school to other people and watching them build and get better and become the firefighters they wanted to be, it just fueled me more to do better and better at it.”
Then Lytle got into the industrial firefighting world, taking more courses in the meantime. He started working for Lakeland College as a part-time seasonal instructor in 2015. Then, he went to Lethbridge College to take the Emergency Medical Technician program, which he finished in 2017. After, he went back into the oil fields to fight fires before returning to the Vermillion Fire and Rescue.
Being an instructor while he was in his mid-20s caused a lot of his students to comment on how young he was for that job.
“Getting that feeling of people saying you’re extremely young, it just goes to show that I’m stepping in the right direction and I’m continuing to do good.”
One day, he saw the job posting for the fire chief position in the back of his classroom. After looking up where Carrot River was, he decided to apply.
He was one of 13 candidates to apply for the job. Bob Gagné, Carrot River’s mayor, said he got the job because of his qualifications.
“He’s very highly qualified, he’s been instructing at the Vermillion college, he’s very good in training, which we need and he’s all-around a very good candidate,” he said. “He’s the best of the bunch we had.”
“I’m excited to come to Carrot River,” Lytle said. “I’m goal-oriented and this was an interesting goal I set for myself.”
He said he knew it was going to be hard to get into the position he’ll be starting at the end of August.
“I’m excited to do everything I can for the community as well as for this fire department and make sure everything goes well.”
As for his goals for the department, Lytle said he needs to learn more about his new workplace and the region first. Gagné said there was one goal the Town of Carrot River and the RM of Moose Range made perfectly clear they want him to pursue.
“We’ve told him that recruitment and retention is one of our priorities and he didn’t seem to have a problem with it.”
The mayor said the decline in volunteer firefighters has been a concern for a number of years.
Lytle will be coming to Carrot River with his fiancée, Alexandria Jones, who’ll join him after she finishes her psychology degree this winter. He’s also looking forward to some of the recreational pursuits the area offers.
“I’ve been fishing as long as I remember, started hunting with my dad at a young age. Fishing and hunting has been a big part of my life,” he said. “I’m super excited because I’ve heard a lot of good stuff about the big game that’s around here as well as the amazing fishing that’s at Tobin Lake.”
