The plight of Albertans in the northern part of the province might seem far away from home for us, but the volatile, unfolding situation strikes a chord close to the heart of Sundre’s fire chief.
Marty Butts, who has decades of volunteer firefighting service under his belt, has always been committed to keeping the community safe from fire. That passion was amplified first by Slave Lake, later by Fort McMurray, and now further underscored that much more by what’s happening in High Level.
Part of being prepared for a worst-case scenario is taking preventive measures including controlled burns to clean up debris and get rid of material that could easily fuel a spreading wildfire, he said.
Over the past number of years, the fire chief has also embarked on an effort to promote the Fire Smart program, which provides property owners useful advice on taking steps to protect their homes.
The fire department recently teamed up with the Town of Sundre’s operations department to clean up a portion of municipally-owned bushy and wooded green space immediately east of Centre Street just north of Third Avenue. Butts said that endeavour to clear out for example, dead grass and logs, remains ongoing.
“We’re hoping to use that as a demonstration to show what a Fire Smart property should look like,” he said.
“It’s a work in progress — there’s a fair bit of manual labour involved,” he said.
“We got a good jump on it, but there’s still lots more to do.”
Visit www.sundrefiresmart.com and www.firesmartcanada.ca for more information on the program.
Meanwhile, the Sundre Fire Department stands at the ready to deploy relief manpower and resources to the ongoing response in High Level should there be a request for aid, he said, adding other departments in Mountain View County and its urban centres have already provided assistance.
The area fire departments coordinate with each other whenever a call comes in to assist elsewhere in the province. The goal being to identify which resources can be spared and deployed without leaving any communities at home inadequately protected, he said.
And to ensure any volunteers who are deployed do not burn out, plans are in place to rotate crews as required. When Butts spoke with the Round Up last week, he said neighbouring departments' firefighters who were sent to High Level had already been out a few days and could potentially need a shift change.
“If that arises, we’ll evaluate the situation and see what can be done.”
