A relative lack of snow and dry conditions throughout the province means wildfire season is starting a little bit early this year.
Alberta Sustainable Resources Development (SRD) declared March 1 to be the official start of the season, one month earlier than normal.
“This year, we have a higher risk of early wildfire, and resources have been on alert in high hazard areas throughout the winter,” SRD minister Frank Oberle said in a media release. “We are positioning additional personnel and equipment throughout the province’s forested area to respond quickly and effectively to protect people and property when wildfires are detected.”
Westlock County, which sits right at the edge of the northern boreal forest, has many forested areas but is mostly agricultural land. Nonetheless, the risk remains.
County fire chief John Biro said all residents should be aware of the risks and take necessary precautions given the current conditions. There was enough snow last year to knock all the grass down, but that hasn’t been the case this year.
“We didn’t have the snow loads that would knock the fine fuels down; if you drive out into rural areas, you’ll see the standing grass,” he said. “You don’t need much wind to dry that stuff out.”
With field full of tall, dry grass, all it takes is one unnoticed spark to set off a wildfire — and the spark might even have been dormant throughout the winter months.
Biro said at least once each year, the county responds to a blaze that starts as a holdover fire, meaning someone was burning in the fall and thinks the fire is out when in fact it has been smoldering in the ground all winter.
“People should probing their fires, any of last year’s fires that were out there burning,” he said. “Even though they think it’s out, they should check it and monitor it throughout the early spring.”
The best way to probe for a ground fire is to get a piece of wire about four feet long and stick it into the ground. If it’s hot or warm after about 15 minutes, Biro said, there is definitely a fire in the ground.
Fortunately, the county fire departments well trained to respond to fires that arise — spring training exercises will soon get underway to ensure all members are comfortable setting up and using all the equipment in a wildfire situation.
Although all the departments are currently well staffed, there’s always room for more.
“We have a lot of firefighters. They come and go; you lose one here and you gain one there,” Biro said.
“But we can always use people who are interested in joining. There’s always room for more.”
Last year was an especially bad year for forest fires in the province. Even though the 1,139 fires is lower than the five-year average of 1,677, those fires burned a whopping 950,000 hectares, 12 times the five-year average.
For more information about the county’s fire departments visit www.westlockcounty.com or contact the county office at 780-349-3346.
