YOUNG WOMAN BRAVELY SAVES 16 HIKERS FROM JASPER NATIONAL PARK WILDFIRE

In Jasper National Park, a fire unexpectedly started on July 22. It quickly spread and seriously damaged the Canadian forest. Hikers and campers in the vicinity were told to evacuate as the fire spread, and happily, volunteer firefighter Colleen Knull, age 18, was there to lead the way. When the fire broke out, Knull was employed for the summer as a cook at a lodge in Jasper. She remembers, "The smoke was coming up from the mountainside." "It was large." The apprentice firefighter promptly notified the lodge's patrons and looked about for additional campers nearby. She assembled a group of sixteen and guided them all to safety after a strenuous four-hour hike through the dark.

Evacuee Rebecca Tocher was one of them. Recalling how Knull took command and kept everyone together during the tense and terrifying hike, she called Knull "an amazing leader." "There was intense smoke, my eyes were burning, and there was ash falling constantly," Tocher recalls clearly.

Luckily, Knull knew the trail well and could navigate the area with her tracking abilities. "My employer and I had cut logs on the way up when we rode up a horse to that lodge on the same trail in the past," she remembers. Thus, I was aware that the descent would involve 67 chopped logs. Knull relied on horse tracks and manure in addition to counting the logs to lead the group safely through the darkness.

The group was able to coordinate with search and rescue teams to aid in the evacuation as they descended, and they eventually came to a pickup truck.

Knull, who is preparing to become a full-time firefighter, shows that in any risky circumstance, bravery and resourcefulness are crucial. Her empathy for other people, though, is what really makes her stand out. "I do it because, at the end of the day, I know I would want to go home—and I would want someone there to help," the woman says in her explanation.