Last week’s announcement that the provincial fire season would officially begin a month early won’t have a direct impact on Sturgeon County, but firefighters are nonetheless preparing for a busy season.
Agriculture and Forestry Minister Oneil Carlier said burn permits in the province’s Forest Protection Area would be required as of March 1 this year instead of the usual April 1.
“There may be snow on the ground in many of these areas right now, but it won’t be long before spring is here and it will bring warmer temperatures and elevated risk of wildfire,” he said.
Along with moving up the permit date, Carlier said provincial firefighting crews would be training sooner this year to be ready for an early fire season.
While Sturgeon County fire chief Pat Mahoney doesn’t plan to move up the start of fire-permit season within the county, he’s nonetheless keeping an eye on conditions and the county’s departments are getting ready for what could be a busy summer fire season.
“Certainly given the winter we’ve had, it’s at the forefront,” he said. “We’re preparing and monitoring.”
None of the area within Sturgeon County is within the Forest Protection Area, so there isn’t necessarily any provincial money coming into the county to help with training. Nonetheless, both wildfire training and on-the-ground experience are plentiful for the county’s volunteer firefighters.
“Fortunately and unfortunately, we’ve had quite a bit of practise over the last few years,” Mahoney said. “We also have a large contingent of wildland firefighting equipment that we look after and maintain.”
Fire calls make up about one-third of the county departments’ responses, according to fire service officer Glen Innis, and half of those are for outdoor fires in grass, brush, or treed areas.
That amounts to a total of 191 responses, although that doesn’t necessarily mean there were 191 fires: each call has at least two departments responding to it.
Most of those outdoor fire calls are in the northeast part of the county, where there is much more standing forest than in the areas close to the city.
“Typically, the worst fires always seem to be up in the northeast part of the county, around the Redwater area,” Innis said. “That’s where we had our largest wildland fire last year; we spent five days out on that one.”
Mahoney said while provincial assistance is available if it’s needed, the responsibility ultimately rests with the municipality to handle fire protection within its boundaries – including bringing in heavy equipment and helicopters if that’s what’s required.
He has already begun contacting the private companies the county has worked with in the past to make sure the equipment is available if it’s needed.
It may well be another very busy season in the county.
“That’s what my mind’s telling me, is it’s going to be busy year,” Innis said. “We haven’t had any real meaningful precipitation for quite some time. We’ll see what the future brings.”
Residents are encouraged to check all the areas where they did any winter burning, to make sure the fire is out and there are no smouldering ashes beneath the surface – if wind kicks up, those smouldering ashes could ignite.
“We’re asking residents to be careful with any winter burning they may have done and make sure their piles are out, and to monitor that,” Mahoney said.
For information on fire permits in the county visit www.sturgeoncounty.ca. Up-to-date information on fire bans in the province can be found at albertafirebans.ca.
