firefighting

After nearly two weeks of relentless firefighting, the massive wildfires that tore through forests in northern Japan have been brought under control, officials said, ending an 11-day battle against what has been described as the country’s second-largest blaze in more than 30 years. Since last month, hundreds of firefighters and more than 1,000 military personnel had been deployed to fight the flames as they swept across about 1,600 hectares in the mountainous Iwate region. That burn zone is nearly five times the size of New…

One of the most dangerous jobs in this world is working as a firefighter. For Ali Mohamud Wehliye, this is the job he has been living for more than 11 years. "I was involved in 503 firefighting accidents," Wehliye said. Prior to the current job, Wehiliye worked as a mechanic. “I first started training as a mechanic in 2001,” Wehliye explains. He notes that his training as a mechanic made it easy for him to switch to his current job as a firefighter. The risky job combined with the prevailing security situation in…