I read this short story about 3 to 5 years ago, either online or in some book of collected best sci-fi stories of the year.
It's about a humanoid in California (I think) who's forced to fight forest fires even though he doesn't want to. He's bred (or retrofitted or mutated) to have fire-resistant armor fused with his skin, then forced to serve his country by fighting fires. He still experiences pain in the fire despite the armor, and many of his colleagues are burnt to death with every new mission. Eventually, our protagonist rebels and tries (and perhaps succeeds?) in escaping his destiny of firefighting.
The story is written in first-person and takes place in his head.
It's notable that (if I remember correctly) the protagonist speaks/thinks in a primitive, caveman-like style. Thus, the writing style is pretty similar to "Clobbo" by Simon Rich in his collection New Teeth—again, like a caveman, e.g., "Me fight fires but it cause me much pain," etc.
Thanks!
