Alberta government faces OHS charges in firefighter Morgan Kitchen's death

Alberta's Ministry of Forestry and Parks is facing six occupational health and safety charges in connection with the 2024 death of firefighter Morgan Kitchen, who was struck by a falling tree while battling the Jasper Wildfire Complex.

Kitchen, 24, was fatally injured on August 3, 2024, while working as a wildland firefighter in Jasper. He was pronounced dead while being transferred to an air ambulance, the only fatality directly linked to the Jasper fires that ultimately destroyed about 30 per cent of the Rocky Mountain town.

The charges allege the ministry failed to ensure worker safety by inadequately assessing and controlling hazards posed by dangerous trees. James Gault, vice-president of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees, which represents wildland firefighters, said the charges represent an important step toward accountability. "This will never bring (Morgan) back. It doesn't lessen that loss of him," Gault said. "But those charges show that there was a failure in hazard assessment, something that we have been talking about for a long time."

Gault emphasized that such charges against a government agency are rare. "It's very rare that they actually go after a government agency," he said. The union has long raised concerns about hazard assessment procedures for wildland firefighters.

At a memorial service weeks after Kitchen's death in August 2024, hundreds gathered to honour him for his service as a firefighter and his time in the Canadian Armed Forces and Britain's Royal Marines. His father, Rob, remembered his son as "honest, trustworthy, an adventurer, a warrior, always present for people." His mother, Joni Avram, said he "had guts and will of steel, cared intensely and lived life 100 per cent."