People caused the vast majority — more than 80 per cent — of last year's wildfires in the Rocky Forest Area, said a wildfire information officer with Alberta's Department of Agriculture and Forestry.
“That means 80 per cent of the wildfires in the area didn't need to happen at all,” said Barry Shellian last week during a phone interview with the Gazette.
Throughout the province, people caused 60 per cent of last year's wildfires, he added.
So officials understand very clearly the importance of public partnership and engagement to reduce the potential for human-caused wildfires, which in turn will help to create safer communities, he said.
That importance of raising public awareness only increases in conjunction with the risk of wildfire, which has been steadily increasing every fire season for the past several years, he said.
“The fire potential has been increasing each year for the last few years,” he said, later adding, “this is the fourth year we've started the fire season one month early.”
As everyone recalls, last summer was really warm and dry. Compounding the situation was another mild winter with little snow, he said, adding the region is “going into fire season with a very dry forest out there.”
Department of Agriculture and Forestry officials measure conditions through what are called fire indices, which keep track of and provide information on variables like fuel types and levels of surface as well as ground moisture. Contributing information to the indices are automated weather stations that run year-round.
Aside from helping to paint a picture on the potential for wildfires, the data is also used in wildfire computer modelling programs. The numbers indicate that this fire season is so far off to a drier start than last year, he said.
Additionally, statistics show that a lot of wildfires get started at this time of year because the ground and grass are still dry and brown. As the season progresses and the grass gets green, the fire hazard typically tends to decrease a bit, he said.
Due to the picture painted by the indices, fire season, which usually starts April 1, started March 1, and firefighters have already been busy since, he said.
In a press release dated Thursday, March 24, Department of Agriculture and Forestry officials reported that two wildfires in the Rocky Forest Area — one southwest of Drayton Valley and another along the Red Deer River west of Sundre — were both under control. Provincewide, there were 12 new wildfires that developed over the course of the previous week — three were under control, two had been turned over to landowners and seven had been extinguished.
But crews were busy responding before fire season even started. Over the Christmas holidays, firefighters dealt with a fire that was smouldering under the ground's surface. There were no visible flames but the blaze remained active underground. So if there can be wildfires late in December and in January, the danger is amplified that much more at this time of year, he said.
Reminding residents who live in a forest protection area anywhere in Alberta that they need a fire permit to burn anything other than a campfire during fire season is important, he added.
Unfortunately, recent snowfalls have had a “very minimal” impact on the potential for wildfires. If a person were to melt some snow, he or she would get very little water from it. Additionally, some frost remains underground in certain areas, so any melting snow will mostly run off, potentially preventing the moisture from being absorbed into the ground, he said.
“Rain would actually be preferred right now,” he said.
Working to reduce the potential for human-caused wildfires, officials have been working with communities like Clearwater County, Brazeau County and the Town of Sundre, which are pursuing FireSmart programs.
All of these efforts to introduce FireSmart initiatives will hopefully increase public awareness, create a healthier forest and at least somewhat reduce the risk of wildfires, he said.
Crews are also doing prescribed fires and hazard reduction burning.
“Approximately nine hectares of hazard reduction burning was also recently completed near the Bighorn Dam random camping area. This will create a green grassy area to reduce the threat of human-caused recreational wildfires,” reported the press release.
Officials also encourage landowners and industry members to check on any piles of previously burned debris since there could be residual heat trapped underground that goes unnoticed from the surface until all the snow has melted and smoke begins to smoulder up from the ground, said Shellian.
Alberta has a new fire advisory system that elevates warnings from restrictions to bans and potentially even full-out closures depending on the situation, he said, adding people can go to Albertafirebans.ca to get the latest information on whether there are fire bans or advisories in place, “which we hope would correspond with people's actions and behaviours out there.”
The Rocky Forest Area spans a significant amount of territory from the Red Deer River in the south all the way north to Brazeau and as far west as the national parks. In that area, there are 70 wildland firefighters stationed in two camps.
There are also 11 fire towers, of which three are already manned. As logistics and timing comes, the other towers will also be staffed. Later in the season, 10 of the towers will be permanently manned. The last tower, in Cline, west of Nordegg along Abraham Lake, will be manned as required, he said.
“That's part of the plan, is to have those folks watching,” he said.
Depending on the fire hazard in a given area, firefighters also patrol the skies from helicopters. Some of the fire towers offer limited views, so crews also fly around spots that have reduced visibility and where there's a fire concern, he said.
Anyone who sees a wildfire should report it as soon as possible by calling 310-FIRE, he said.
"That means 80 percent of the wildfires in the area didn't need to happen at all."Barry Shellianwildfire information officer
