Springer Lake training continues in spite of the facility lost to the 2025 wildfire

By Gloria Kelly

Like the Phoenix rising from the ashes, the team at the Canadian Forces School of Survival & Aeromedical Training (CFSSAT) has used good old-fashioned ingenuity to continue air crew survival training at Springer Lake in southeastern Manitoba.

Much of the training facility was consumed by the Lac du Bonnet wildfire in summer 2025. In fact, when the fire hit, there was a course underway that required an evacuation of 20 students, their instructors, and what little equipment they could carry.

The fire destroyed a big part of the training facility, our equipment, and our all-terrain vehicles, said Sgt Darryl Higgins, an instructor at CFSSAT. When we were able to take stock of what was lost, our next thoughts turned to how and where we can continue the training that our air crews have to have.

CFSSAT runs the courses in Survival Escape Resistance Evasion (SERE), Aircrew Land Survival (AOSL) at Springer Lake, and an Arctic Survival Course (AOSAA) in Resolute Bay.

Initially, CFSSAT moved its required training courses to CFS Dundurn while evaluating if there was enough environment left at Springer Lake to allow wilderness survival training to continue there. Only one course had to be delayed while an alternate site was found, and the evaluation at Springer Lake took place.

Our courses are about survival in the case of an incident where pilots and their crews may find themselves on the ground in less-than-ideal circumstances. They need to know how to survive, regardless of the circumstances, said Sgt Higgins. Every air crew member has to have this training, so it was essential for us to be able to continue that training with minimal disruption to our training cycle.

With what we had left of the complex and the land that the fire had not consumed, it was decided that we could make courses happen at Springer Lake, he said. It has not been without its challenges, but those challenges have brought out the best in both our students and instructors, he said. The training was back in Manitoba by late fall of 2025.

Tents, tents, and more tents have been the order of the day, even in -30 temperatures. In addition to keeping people warm, it has been a challenge to keep vehicles operational in makeshift maintenance facilities.

But it’s the people who have overcome the challenges and made the program work. The diversity of the skills our instructors bring to the courses provides a cross section of knowledge that builds a critically important outcome for our students, said Sgt Higgins. Minus 30 or plus 30 degrees, we make the training happen because one never knows when or where disaster will strike, and those skills learned with us could save your life.

A decision has yet to be made as to whether the Springer Lake facility will be rebuilt.