As Athabasca and surrounding areas are still grappling with a particularly wet summer, our neighbouring province to the west is under siege of wildfire.
Local fire departments are skeptical they will be called out to assist in fire suppression efforts, as many did during the Fort McMurray wildfire last year.
“They don’t want just self-deployment, they call it. They don’t want a fire department … just to show up at a fire and go, ‘OK, what can I do?” said Ron Jackson, Athabasca County director of emergency services. “It just creates challenges with the organizational teams. They learned that from the Fort McMurray fire.”
As of July 29, according to the BC Wildfire Service website there were 130 total wildfires across British Columbia, 27 of which were 1,000 hectares in size or more.
Athabasca Fire Department chief Travis Shalapay said a lot of the fires are occurring outside of municipalities, which is outside the volunteer fire department’s expertise.
“There’s actually a lot of places that have wildland sprinkler trailers that deployed their resources to help protect the towns, but right now its still primarily in the wildland side of thing,” he said. “We’re more structural versus wildland.”
Shalapay said if the situation arose, the fire department would “put our best effort” into send out a crew.
“Obviously, it would be a decision of council, but we would be willing to go if it arose,” he said.
Jackson said the Office of the Fire Commissioner along with the Alberta Emergency Management Agency held a series of meetings this past spring, debriefing people on how the Fort McMurray wildfire was managed.
A lot of well-intentioned fire departments just showed up, Jackson said, which added to the confusion for people who are trying to organize the emergency response.
“That’s why they try and – discourage is a pretty strong word – caution from coming out on your own without being asked,” Jackson said.
He said Athabasca County Fire Services would only send out a unit if a request came in from the Office of the Fire Commissioner and the Alberta Emergency Management Agency, and if enough volunteer firefighters were willing to go.
