The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees is sounding the alarm after the province admitted it will not be fully staffed to fight wildland fires for at least another three weeks.
The average number of wildfires in Alberta at this time of year is 120 with 230 hectares burned. But this year there have already been 205 wildfires, burning 755 hectares.
AUPE vice-president James Gault said staff should have been in place weeks ago.
“We now have double the fires and three times the amount of hectares burned. As much as the government is working to correct it, it does still seem like they’re taking their time, and that’s a danger for all of us,” Gault said.
“Last year by May 6 we were already in a state of emergency.”
He said Alberta is currently a tinderbox and it’s looking like another rough season. The best thing the government can do is get more firefighters on the ground, make sure residents prepare their property against fires, and enforce the rules and charge those who don’t put dispose of their cigarettes, or put out their camp fires, properly.
Related:
Red Deer fire danger risk considered very high
AUPE said it warned the government for months that they were taking too long to hire and train firefighters.
“There’s a retention-and-recruitment crisis in hiring seasonal wildland firefighters. More than 50 per cent of people hired last year did not return this year, meaning our crews don’t have the experience they need. We have firefighters with two years of experience leading crews with even less experience.”
Related:
‘Trees going up like Roman candles’ as fire season starts early in B.C., Alberta
Gault said the province was hoping for more snow and now they’re waiting for rain, but rain may not arrive until June or July. It’s just been bad planning on the government’s part who should already be planning for next year’s wildfire season.
This week, 58 wildfires were active in Alberta.
Next door in British Columbia, there have been 177 fires this year, burning 2,055 hectares. Of the 115 now burning, 44 started in the third week of April.
— with files from The Canadian Press
szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter