The Alberta wildfire season has started a month early for the third consecutive year, which officials say could become a regular occurrence.
“The reason we're doing it is because our research and statistics show that wildfires are consistently starting earlier each year,” said Barry Shellian, wildfire ranger and information officer with Environment and Sustainable Resource Development (ESRD).
“Last year in the province of Alberta we had 1,207 wildfires. Many of which started in the month of May and even earlier in the year.”
In previous years, the fire season started April 1. But as of March 1 this year all burning activities will require a fire permit. Fire permits are free and are available at any ESRD office.
Wildfires are starting in the spring for many reasons, according to Shellian. The grass is cured, which means it's brown and hasn't turned green yet, and this creates dry forest conditions.
“The leaves, the branches, and the dried grass from the year before are still there and ready to combust because they're not green yet,” he said.
“One of the reasons we're starting now is to ensure that all our manpower and our resources are in place for when the snow can suddenly leave and that dry, cured grass can be available.”
People are advised to prepare for fire season by ensuring that any winter burning is completely extinguished.
“If they were doing brush pile burning, burning on acreages or farms, they need to prepare to go back and check and make sure that their winter burning is absolutely extinguished.”
Obtaining a fire permit is important because Alberta's fire detection program, including fire towers, will be mobilized in the next month, he noted.
“We want to make sure that people have permits for two reasons: to make sure that we don't have dispatches or resources to people burning, and so our staff can go out there and educate those homeowners to make sure that their burning is successful,” he said.
He encourages people to create a fire smart environment, as the majority of wildfires last year were human caused.
“Of the 1,207 wildfires last year, 920 were human caused. So therefore 920 fires were absolutely preventable,” he said.
Officials could potentially conduct six prescribed fires in the local wildfire management area this year.
“We also want people to be aware that wildfire is not necessarily a bad thing because we live in a fire dependent ecosystem.”
For fire-ban information, visit www.albertafirebans.ca.
To report a wildfire in Alberta, call 310-FIRE (3473).
