Wildfire preparation remains “front of mind” for County of Grande Prairie councillors as the region heads into the warm season.
During county council’s March 4th committee meetings, County Fire Chief Trevor Grant provided wildfire projections for 2024 in the county, saying without significant precipitation in the next six weeks the region will be at “extreme fire risk.”
County Reeve Bob Marshall says due to the severity of last year’s wildfire season, the chief’s findings are concerning, due to the “drought-like” conditions the county has faced over the winter.
“We already had the first wildfire, a grass fire, back just before this snowfall hit out by Wembley,” he says. “We’re in a very precarious situation, especially with what happened last year with all the wildfires in the northwest, there’s a number of people that are definitely on edge and we need people to really be cognisant of any burning restrictions or bans that come out.”
Currently, the county has been preparing for the worst while hoping for the best by implementing several techniques to ensure fire crews are prepared for the anticipated fire season such as equipment prep, exploring support options, and expanding the use of local resources.
“We’re prepping and having it front of mind with our fire services so they are prepared,” he says. “They’re already scoping out helicopters so that we have one on standby for bucketing purposes so we can be on top of fires especially if they’re in remote locations.”
Additionally, the county is still offering Firesmart evaluations for property owners in the county for free in order to mitigate any further risks presented by wildfires in the summer.
“I would encourage people to do that, to be proactive in their own right on their own properties, just potentially with what we’re seeing, if we don’t get any more moisture than what we already have, it’s going to be a fairly serious situation.”
On March 4th, Council’s Committee of the Whole directed administration to bring back a report regarding the costs and funding options for further mitigation strategies to a future council meeting.
