With wildfire season here in Alberta, firefighters are going to be some more technology for detecting and managing wildfires.
Agriculture and Forestry Minister Devin Dreeshen says they’re expanding the usage of drones and smoke detecting cameras for monitoring fires.
“Obviously boots on the ground and actually having the men and women of Alberta Wildfire actually putting out fires, digging them out by hand with axes, that’s really the best way to stop a fire. Using technology goes a long way in detecting, monitoring and helping to put out and maintain these fires.”
Dreeshen says they’ve already see about 300 fires started already this year.
We talked to the Minister on the Trending 55 Hot Seat and he says this time of year is particularly important when it comes to managing wildfires.
“Unfortunately, the vast majority of fires in the province are started by us, by people. When it comes to preparedness, making sure that people really put out their campfires, if they’re out quadding or ATVing out that they do everything to make sure there’s no debris buildup on their machines and look behind them to just in case they’ve maybe started a fire inadvertently.”
You can hear our full conversation with Dreeshen below.
– Kyle Moore, Trending 55 Newsroom
