Greg Bartlett

"Tell me your Rural Story, I'll tell you mine," Vice Chair with the Peterborough Ag, Society.

My passion for Rural Emergency Management began in my hometown of Whitby, Ontario. In 1998, I joined the Canadian Forces Fire Service at CFB Petawawa, and since then, I’ve held positions with urban, suburban, and rural fire services across Canada, consistently tackling rural-urban fringe issues

I relocated to Western Canada in 2006 to serve as the Provincial Wildfire Prevention Officer with Saskatchewan Environment. In 2015, I graduated from Brandon University with a science degree in Applied Disaster & Emergency Studies and a minor in Rural and Community Studies. During my studies, I was an active member of the Rural Policy Learning Commons and lectured internationally on my experiences. I have also co-authored nine international consensus fire codes on Rural Fire Protection and held leadership roles for national events like the Centennial Calgary Stampede, where I focused on situational awareness and crisis mitigation.

After working with the Ontario Government on emergency management for the Pan Am Games, I returned to the Canadian hinterland. The Province of Manitoba asked me to serve as the provincial point person for the two-year project to re-establish the rail line to the Port of Churchill. In this role, I responded to the needs of Sub-Arctic communities and acted as a liaison for the Manitoba Government and Critical Infrastructure Partners. I then spent two years in Western Manitoba leading producers and communities through large-scale emergencies.

Most recently, I’ve made Peterborough my home following a workplace accident in Northern Ontario. I now stay active in my community by volunteering at events like the International Plowing Match in Lindsay and serving as the current Vice Chair of the Peterborough Agricultural Society and writing for National Trade Magazines passing on my experience.

Out here on the gravel roads and in the small timber towns of Rural Canada, they don’t have the luxury of waiting around when the smoke starts rolling in. Right now, wildfire season is pushing our rural crews and communities to the absolute breaking point. That is why the Standing Senate Committee’s landmark report, “Canada on fire: The catastrophic and escalating effects of wildfires on lives and communities,” hits so close to home. It exposes a harsh truth: our fragmented, slow-moving systems are failing the very people who feed and power this country. I am proud to share that my latest article, "The Invisible Front," is the cover story for this month’s Fire Fighting in Canada Magazine. In the article, I dive deep into the Wildland-Industrial Interface (WII), the overlooked spaces where aggressive fires collide with vital rural infrastructure like rail networks, energy corridors, and remote resource hubs. When a fire hits these isolated zones, it triggers what I call the "First-Hour Problem". Out in the bush, local resources are stretched thin, and distance means heavy backup is hours away. Valuable industrial infrastructure can be compromised before a single provincial or federal asset even gets dispatched. The Senate report is a massive wake-up call demanding a true "whole-of-society" overhaul. We cannot just keep reacting to the flames. We need to empower our communities, upgrade our thinking and actively build fire-resilient infrastructure right in our own backyards.

issuu.com/annexbusinessmedia/docs/ffic_-_june_2026