Alberta wildfire officials say they have trained crews and equipment ready for dealing with wildfires this season.
Forestry and Parks Minister Todd Loewen says they will be “well prepared” for any fires that may happen in the North.
“We’ll position crews and equipment where we feel the risk is greatest. That’s one of the first things we’ll do. When it comes to working with doing a lot of the night vision helicopter work, we’ve increased our night vision helicopter capacity this year. We have the hoist crews going now this year.”
The province has hired more than 550 seasonal firefighters for this wildfire season and has access to hundreds more through contracts and mutual aid agreements should they be needed.
Municipal Affairs Minister Dan Williams says one area that will be important is having strong municipal partnerships.
“You can look at past fires, whether you’re talking about Chuckegg, or even work happening with first nations communities like Dene or Little Red. Even just a few weeks ago when we saw the challenges surrounding potential flooding in Peace River and Nampa, we saw a collaboration between the emergency agencies there.”
New for this year is the province’s Mutual Aid Incentive Pilot, which offers municipalities up to $125,000 to support wildfire response and encourages them to ask for provincial assistance sooner.
– Kyle Moore, Trending 55 Newsroom
