Province rolls out its plan to fight wildfires

Water-tanker deals restored, fire-safety rules tightened

Water tankers hired to fight fires in Alberta will see their contracts re-extended to 120 days when the province’s wildfire season begins March 1.

The new Forest and Prairie Protection Act means Albertans will also face increased fines for abandoning campfires or burning during bans, and corporations can be fined up to $1 million for fire safety breaches.

What’s not clear is how much the province will this year put toward fire prevention programs or its base wildfire management budget, which received cuts in 2016.

The government was slammed last year for cutting its water tanker contracts by $5.1 million and its base wildfire management budget by a further $9.6 million.

The province hasn’t had any word on when it might see a thirdparty wildfire report it commissioned after the devastating Fort McMurray blaze, which is supposed to offer up lessons learned from the disaster.

That fire reduced to ash an area the size of Prince Edward Island, destroying 2,302 residences in 1,599 structures, and 15 commercial properties, and burned a $500-million hole in Alberta’s coffers.

Its insurable losses topped $3.6 billion, making it the most expensive disaster for insurers in Canadian history.

The government is already deploying firefighting equipment across the province in preparation for this year’s fire season.

While last year saw a fair bit of precipitation, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Oneil Carlier said Wednesday a dry winter has elevated the fire risk unless there are notable spring rains.

Carlier said he would like to see more buy-in when it comes to fire safety — but that doesn’t necessarily mean more cash for the Fire Smart program.

“I think the bigger problem is the use of the money we already have,” he said.

“There has to be buy-in from communities and residents of communities ... (and) I think we’ll see that this year because of what happened last year.”

More than 60 per cent of the wildfires in 2016 were caused by human activity and Carlier hopes increased fines will push Albertans to do their part in preventing fires.

Last year, 1,338 wildfires burned more than 611,000 hectares, including the Horse River wildfire that spread into Fort McMurray.