Alberta government to fully staff wildfire crew earlier after last year's record-breaking season
CBC
Alberta Wildfire is hiring more firefighters and expects to be fully staffed two weeks earlier than the 2023 season where wildfires burned a record 2.2 million hectares across the province.
"We should be fully staffed by April 15th which is moving it up a couple weeks earlier than normal," Forestry and Parks Minister Todd Loewen said in an interview this week.
Although fire season officially starts March 1, Alberta Wildfire doesn't typically have full staff and equipment ready to go until the beginning of May.
Last year's fire season changed that.
Wildfires started early last year due to dry conditions and windy, warm weather. The province declared a provincial state of emergency on May 6. More than 38,000 people were forced to leave their homes over the course of the summer.
The province faced criticism for past staffing cuts and for not appearing ready for what turned out to be an unprecedented season which saw large fires burning across the province simultaneously.
Loewen said his ministry is hiring more seasonal firefighting staff this year and signing contracts to lock down aircraft operators for the season.
Alberta Wildfire is also looking to expand the use of technology such as helicopters equipped with night vision and drones capable of doing thermal imaging to check hotspots in the overnight hours.
"There's a lot of things that we've changed and we just want to make sure that that we're prepared for this season coming up," he said.
The Buck Creek wildfire, which affected Drayton Valley and Brazeau County, started as a small grassfire on April 23. The fire grew due to strong winds and very hot and dry conditions, eventually forcing all of Drayton Valley to evacuate for nearly two weeks in early May.
The town lost several homes in the blaze. Brazeau County, which bases its operations in Drayton Valley, lost two of 82 homes in the fire-affected area.
Brazeau County has hired a third-party consultant to review the 2023 response.
The county, southwest of Edmonton, is partly in the forest protection (green) zone, which is under the responsibility of Alberta Wildfire.
Municipal firefighters are responsible for wildfires in the "white zone," which is outside those areas. Municipalities can request help from provincial crews but the need was so overwhelming last year, they were left on their own.
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