Wildland firefighters union says province unprepared
Welcome rain isn't enough to prepare the province for the dangers of the coming wildfire season, says the union representing Alberta's wildland firefighters.
James Gault, vice-president of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE), is calling on the province to not ignore the dangers of the pending wildfire season, which cost the province billions last year.
“Firefighters and others in the Department of Natural Resources have been warning the government for months that we're not ready for fire season,” Gault said in an interview with Postmedia on Tuesday.
“We've told the government there is a retention-and-recruitment crisis for seasonal firefighters. More than 50 per cent of last year's crews have not come back,” he said. “This has left us with some crew leads who have only two years of experience leading teams who have even less experience.”
Gault points to recent fires in Brazeau County, where requests for 100 firefighters and air support were not addressed.
“The government said, `Unfortunately, the answer's no to that,'” Gault said.
Instead, 15 firefighters were sent — and no air support, he said.
“We know that they're not ready. They only started doing their training just recently. And some of these people who are coming to work are students and they're not even out of school yet,” Gault said, pointing to a fluidity in government numbers.
“The government said the fire season began in February, but here we are in May and Forestry and Parks Minister Todd Loewen admits we're not yet fully staffed or trained,” he said.
“He claims we'll achieve that on May 15. He said earlier we'd be ready on April 15, but we weren't. One day he says we're hiring 35 people every week and the next he says we finished hiring two months ago.
“It's like a shell game,” Gault said. “They're showing parts, but distracting you on the other end.”
In an April 29 news conference at the Slave Lake tanker base, Loewen said another 100 wildland firefighters had been hired with increased funding from the 2024-25 budget.
The province added two air tanker groups, and two night-vision equipped helicopters — Alberta is the only province to have even one under contract, Loewen said — as well as an additional $14 million for the community fireguard program administered by the Forest Resource Improvement Association of Alberta.
Loewen said there will be 1,000 wildfire staffers this year compared to 900 last year, and that staffing is running ahead of last year's schedule, with all staff through training by May 15.
“These investments will result in significant improvements to our wildfire operations, allowing us to better protect Alberta's communities and forests from the impacts of wildfire,” Loewen said.
This year's fire season extends from February to the end of October — and it started with 60 carry-over fires.
Alberta firefighters have already extinguished 255 fires this year, which leaves 39 fires active at the moment.
Most of those are currently under control, with four considered “being held,” which means that given current weather conditions and resources, growth of the fire is not anticipated.
Despite rain this week in some parts of the province, fire season this year is shaping up to be worse than last year, Gault said, citing 40 active wildfires, while 253 have been extinguished.
Evacuations at the Cold Lake First Nation and in the Peace River district — including nearly 200 inmates at a correctional centre — have Albertans keeping a close eye on the forecast.
TAKING CARE OF CREWS
Beginning wages for battling wildfires range from $22 to $29 an hour, but they come without the security of full-time wages.
“They're doing nothing to keep people coming back, so we might get 50 per cent who come back,” Gault said. “We need to find ways to retain people to continue working here.”
AUPE has launched a campaign on its website that asks Albertans to tell their MLAS it's time to take concerns about wildland firefighting seriously.