Department of Natural Resources and Renewables firefighter Kalen MacMullin of Sydney, N.S., works on a fire in Shelburne County, N.S., (THE CANADIAN PRESS)

By Derek Craddock

PREPARING FOR WILDFIRES

Is Prince Albert prepared for a severe wildfire season?

Jun 10, 2023 | 8:00 AM

The early start to the wildfire season in Canada is just the beginning of what’s expected to be a severe season this summer.

Last week, federal Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair called the fire season unprecedented adding that the amount of land already burned is more than 10 times the average amount of land burned by June 1 over the last 10 years. It’s equivalent to five million football fields, or almost five times the size of Prince Edward Island.

As of Friday morning, 415 fires are currently burning in Canada, 30 of them are in Saskatchewan.

Blair anticipates that the worst of the fire season is still to come.

So, is the City of Prince Albert prepared for the dangers of wildfires in the coming months?

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paNOW spoke to the Chief of the Prince Albert Fire Department, Kris Olsen, about the city’s fire management strategies and what they’ve done so far to keep the community safe.

He said the weather went from snowy and cold to dry almost instantly which brought on the dry conditions.

“We’re talking first week in May. I feel that the snow melt, there wasn’t one, there wasn’t runoff,” he said. “You didn’t see the puddling. It was just the snow melt was here, and the snow melt was gone.”

One of the first strategies, the fire department put in place last month was prescribed or controlled burns, the intentional use of fire in specific areas, to help prevent large wildfires from spreading in the future.

“What stopped our control burning was the green-up phase. So, we have a slight window and this year it started early May and by the last week in May, maybe even the third week in May it started greening up where that fuel management in the grasslands area was,” said Olsen.

Another fire prevention initiative used by Prince Albert and the rest of Saskatchewan is specific fire bans. Last month, the city implemented bans for Little Red River Park and communities north of the North Saskatchewan River.

“So that’s another control measure that we have and based on the conditions out there, we can do that for a time, specifically for the areas within the city north of the river geographically, that is the little Red River Park and beyond,” said Olsen.

When it comes to more urban areas of the city, Olsen said they are also at risk should any wildfire start. That’s where preparing ahead of time can make all the difference during the fire season. This includes areas like Nordale and homes east of Little Red River Park.

Aside from using resources from Fire Smart Canada, Olsen has some tips on what property owners can do.

“Lifting up low-lying branches, keeping your eavestroughs clean, having a water source on standby. There are all kinds of proven fire strategies and things that you can do just as a homeowner.”

Aside from the danger of burning forests, wildfires have depleted air quality in many communities. The smoke from wildfires has affected thousands of residents, in particular, those with conditions like asthma and COPD. The particles from wildfire smoke have been equivalent to heavy cigarette smoking and to air pollution due to the burning of fossil fuels.

As of Friday, Environment Canada has Special Air Quality statements for most of the province, from as far north as Uranium City to Davidson in the south.

-With files from The Canadian Press