Rising temperatures, low humidity hike wildfire risk

Less damage this year but officials warn things can change quickly

Despite some much needed rain and snow in some areas of Alberta, the province is warning residents to be on alert for an impending spike in wildfire danger as temperatures rise.

Christie Tucker, Alberta Wildfire information manager, told reporters at the province's weekly wildfire update Thursday that while the rain has offered some reprieve, this is the point in the season where conditions are about to change.

“The temperature is rising rapidly over the next couple of days, we're about to see a spike in wildfire danger in those areas of the province that haven't had as much rain,” she said.

In areas like Grande Prairie, which is now under a fire ban along with many areas across northern Alberta, Tucker said they are expecting low humidity and high temperatures and warned residents that a wildfire can start and spread quickly.

There are currently 40 wildfires burning in the forest protection area of Alberta. Three are currently being held and the rest are under control. So far this year, 280 wildfires have started. Of those, 261 have been extinguished. Wildfires have burned 9,197 hectares so far this year. This time last year there had been more than 260,000 hectares burned.

“We've always said that spring rain is one of the largest factors of what kind of season we're going to see,” Tucker said. “At this point last year, we were far ahead of where we are now. We had seen already more amounts of area burns than we would normally see in an entire season by this point. We are certainly in better shape than we were last year.”

Tucker urged Albertans to remain diligent when it comes to fully extinguishing fires, stating that 199 fires this year were human caused.

Forestry and Parks Minister Todd Loewen said the province has made a “number of enhancements” this year including adding two additional night-vision equipped helicopters and investing an additional $14-million for the community fireguard program administered by the Forest Resource Improvement Association of Alberta (FRIA).

The province will also be using prescribed burns to manage wildfire danger to help reintroduce fire to the landscape in a controlled manner that aims to promote forest health.

“Thanks to cooler temperatures and more precipitation in many areas of the province, wildfire danger is now low to moderate throughout much of Alberta,” Loewen said Thursday. “These conditions paired with diligent work on the part of our firefighters has led to more than 300 fully extinguished wildfires this year.”

The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) has warned the province about the need to retain and recruit seasoned firefighters and that they are unprepared for the challenging season ahead.

In response to the warnings, Loewen said the province is “way ahead of schedule” compared to last year and the recruitment process has been ongoing for months.

“We do have a good number of recruits coming on and we make sure that the more seasoned people that we have in wildfire, those are the people that would take over more higher level jobs within wildfire fighting,” Loewen said. “But again, we have commitments from people coming on to fight wildfire with us.”