[Image Description: Red and white background, with a faint outline of the map of Canada. There is a photo of Cassie, who is wearing a chain necklace, green with yellow text reading “Alberta,” Alberta Wildfire shirt and smiling at the camera in front of a pale blue map projections with multi-coloured area circles in the background, Text Reads: Cassandra Cartwright, Emerging Professional]
This month’s Emerging Professional Spotlight is Cassandra Cartwright.
Cassie completed her Diploma in Emergency Management from the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT). This educational achievement not only opened new career opportunities but also enabled her to take on more advanced roles within her current position in wildfire management. She can now navigate complex situations with a solid foundation in advanced emergency management capabilities, functions, and responsibilities, as well as a better understanding of the broader context beyond boots-on-the-ground efforts.
In an interview, Cassie revealed that she initially did not want to attend college, but her parents expected her to go without even knowing which program to take. While studying at NAIT, she volunteered at various events to gain hands-on experience. One of her fondest memories from her time in NAIT was the tour of the Provincial Emergency Coordination Centre and the opportunity to work with the CommuniCare exercise development team, where she worked closely with her classmates and instructors.
Before joining DEM, she worked in the oil and gas industry for 5 years, focusing on occupational health and safety. Her main motivation was her passion for keeping friends and crew members safe at work. However, when she sensed that her career was stagnating, she decided to switch gears. She enrolled in an Emergency Medical Responder course to become certified to work on an ambulance, with the hopes of making a genuine difference.
During Alberta’s wildfire season in 2023, Cassie felt a call to action when her family was among the many from rural communities evacuated that season. At that moment, she felt powerless and wanted to do something or anything to help. She decided to join the Alberta Wildfire Service, which she considers the best decision she has made so far, as it has opened up many opportunities she never imagined.
Cassie now works as a firebomber aircraft loader at the Avalon Airbase in Victoria, Australia, where she primarily supports response activities. During the summer, she works as a wildfire dispatcher in Canada. Over the past two years, she has also had the opportunity to fly in helicopters and has served on the Incident Management Team three times, during which she met incredible people from around the world.
Asked for her advice to new and emerging emergency management professionals, Cassie encourages them to have confidence in their abilities and the unique contributions they can make to both their organizations and the industry as a whole. She also emphasizes that the skills possessed by emergency management professionals are increasingly vital in light of climate change and the frequency of disasters. She has also observed that most people are just happy to see a young person with a positive attitude and a genuine desire to learn and make a meaningful difference.
In her free time, Cassie loves hiking, trail running, and camping with her dog. She values her relationships with family and friends, making it a priority to spend time with them, especially during months she is away from them for work in Alberta and Australia during fire season.
Cassie can be reached at LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/cassandra-c-b701ba1b2, and her email address is cassiefayc@gmail.com.
The Emerging Professional Spotlight is a series designed to highlight and uplift the incredible people that are emerging in the field of disaster and emergency management (D&EM), Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), and related fields. The Emerging Professional Spotlight features current CRHNet EP members, or students and recent graduates (<3 years) of our member post-secondary institutions. If you know someone that should be featured in this series, please send us an email at ep@crhnet.ca.