Calgary
Firefighters with specialized grooming and instrumentality for some wildland and municipality fires volition beryllium imperishable fixtures successful six Alberta municipalities, quadrupling the existent fig of existing wildland municipality interface crews.
Province concern of $6.5M volition make 6 caller wildland municipality interface teams
Amir Said · CBC News
· Posted: May 24, 2025 7:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 5 hours ago
Alberta communities astatine hazard of wildfires volition beryllium amended equipped acknowledgment to the deployment of new specialized firefighting crews.
The Government of Alberta announced $6.54 cardinal successful backing Friday for the instauration of six imperishable municipality wildfire teams. The unit volition receive specialized grooming and instrumentality to combat some wildland and structural fires.
The funds volition spell to six municipalities deemed astatine hazard of wildfires — the towns of Strathmore, Hinton and Slave Lake, Lac La Biche County, Kee Tas Kee Now Tribal Council and Kananaskis Improvement District — with $1.09 cardinal allocated to each municipality implicit the adjacent 2 to 3 years.
The concern comes successful airy of the immense harm done by wildfires successful Alberta and passim Canada, said Mike Ellis, provincial curate of nationalist information and exigency services.
"That's wherefore we're focused connected gathering much skilled, specialized and ready-to-deploy teams that tin enactment to guarantee communities, businesses and captious infrastructure are protected successful the lawsuit of a wildfire," helium said.
Having much wildland municipality interface teams crossed the state volition assistance capable existing gaps successful wildfire effect strategies, helium added.
"We person the folks who bash an fantabulous occupation erstwhile it comes to structural firefighting, with the folks that bash the wildfire firefighting, but determination seemed to beryllium a spot of a disconnect," helium said.
Wildland municipality interface teams specialize successful targeting zones wherever developed onshore borders oregon mixes with areas enactment astatine hazard of wildfires by earthy vegetation, specified arsenic transitional areas separating forests and grasslands from populated communities.
Expansion of specialized program
The six caller teams volition bring the full fig of wildland municipality interface crews successful Alberta up to eight, expanding connected the 2 already serving Clearwater County and the Town of High Level.
"I deliberation we each cognize that the occurrence concern successful the state has gotten overmuch stronger, overmuch earlier," said Pat Fule, politician of Strathmore.
The 2 existing wildland municipality interface teams besides behaviour grooming and acquisition to enactment firefighters and residents successful neighbouring communities.
Strathmore firefighters were among the galore crews from crossed Alberta deployed to Jasper during the wildfire exigency past year. Fule sees the wildland municipality interface programme arsenic an accidental for Strathmore to proceed helping those successful need.
"This programme volition beryllium astonishing to assistance our community, but besides our assemblage tin scope retired and enactment different communities successful times of trouble," helium said.
Funding for the Strathmore and Kananaskis Improvement District teams volition travel from the Alberta Emergency Management Agency. The 4 different crews volition beryllium funded done an adjacent divided by the national Natural Resources Canada section and provincial Ministry of Forestry and Parks.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Amir Said is simply a reporter/editor with CBC Calgary. A postgraduate of the University of Regina, Amir's award-winning enactment arsenic a writer and lensman has been published online and successful people nationwide. Before joining the CBC team, Amir was a multimedia newsman with the Western Wheel paper and Great West Media. Amir tin beryllium reached astatine [email protected] oregon done societal media.
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With files from Terri Trembath