Waiting, watching and worrying: Emotions run high as wildfire season begins in earnest [Video]

This story is part of the World on Fire series, CBC’s wildfire and climate change podcast. In this episode, we check in on how front-line workers are feeling as this wildfire season begins in earnest and look at related struggles of ecological grief and the spread of misinformation.

LISTEN | Wildfires burned a record amount of Canada last year. This year looks no better:

Sonja Leverkus says she no longer looks forward to summer. 

“Last year was probably hands down one of the worst years of my life.” 

But this year is shaping up to be more of the same for the wildland fire crew leader and ignition specialist.

Leverkus and her crew are based in Fort Nelson, B.C., which is currently at the centre of several big, fast-moving wildfires. This season, they had to switch gears from putting out zombie fires that burned through the winter to help battle …