By Bryn Levy

Sask. won’t follow Alberta’s early start to forest fire season

Feb 17, 2016 | 1:01 PM

In Alberta, they’re moving up the official start of forest fire season to March 1. Oneil Carlier, the province’s forestry minister, has cited worries about what a mild winter could mean when it comes to wildfires.
 
Dennis Renaud, director of aviation operations with Saskatchewan Wildfire Management, said those same worries are shared in this province.
 
“I guess everybody can look outside and certainly see that we’ve had an exceptionally mild winter. We have less than expected snowfalls. In certain areas, drought codes are fairly high, so yes, we’re concerned,” he said.
 
Renaud noted that while a mild winter can mean a difficult fire season ahead, they’ve also seen years where spring rains turn the situation around.
 
While Saskatchewan won’t follow Alberta in fully moving up the start of fire season, Renaud said they are bringing in some crews early to get prepared. He said tanker pilots will be coming in to start ground school in mid-March. Forest fire season in Saskatchewan will begin as normal on April 1.
 
Overall, Renaud said they have an advantage for this season due to the large numbers of people who had to be brought in to fight last year’s unprecedented wildfires.
 
“There will be quite a few more people, especially with the ground crews and that, that can be called in for assistance as required because numerous people attained the training last year and got experience that way,” he said.
 

blevy@ckom.com
On Twitter: @BrynLevy