Awareness of human-caused fires key as Sask. wildfire season approaches

“The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency continues to monitor risks for the upcoming wildfire season,” the SPSA said in a statement. “Officials have been in contact with community leaders and emergency management specialists to improve community preparedness and resiliency. The SPSA continues to plan to mitigate risk wherever possible.”

The statement goes on to say that firefighter recruitment started in January and they’re looking at raising awareness of wildfire and grassfire prevention.

Wildfire prevention is key for emergency personnel and first responders who note that most fires from last year’s season were human-caused.

“If there’s a way that we can reduce the human-caused fires, it could be a quad…It could be a forestry operation industry, those are the fires that we have to concentrate on,” said Cliff Buettner, Director of Forestry and Emergency Protective Services with the Prince Albert Grand Council (PAGC).

Buettner explained that lightning doesn’t usually develop until late May and through July, when temperatures are warmer, and conditions are favourable for the development of lightning.

The SPSA said that despite dry conditions and hot temperatures at the peak of wildfire season, about 55 per cent of last year’s fires were from people being careless with open fires or equipment that heats up near the dry vegetation.

Last month, the Federal Emergency Preparedness Minister said this year’s wildfires could be even worse than last year when over 18 million hectares of land burned in Canada, almost two million hectares were in Saskatchewan.

Fires in northern communities forced thousands to flee their homes in places like Buffalo River Dene Nation, Buffalo Narrows and Ile-a-la-Crosse.

Buettner said they will work with the SPSA if municipal or First Nations leaders declared an evacuation, as will the Saskatchewan RCMP.

Aside from helping those fleeing their homes, Supt. Murray Chamberlin said police will also be ready to ensure their services won’t be vastly affected by nearby fires.

“We have our planning in place to assist our members and to safeguard our assets, such as our detachments, or the things in the detachments in the event of a catastrophic fire,” he said.

Chamberlin agreed with Buettner that a greater emphasis needs to be placed this year on preventing fires caused by human activity. He said that in 2023, no police charges or investigations were started for arson in the wildfire season.

While hoping the stats for human-caused fires are lower this year, Buettner said his team has already been working with the SPSA to ensure they have the resources and the workers needed to prepare for the fire season.

“Nationally, there’s a lot of discussion in respect to the fire season approaching, which is all dependent on the weather and the fuel moisture content,” he said.

“We’ve noticed over the last several years that the fire seasons are starting earlier, and some jurisdictions have actually brought on crews earlier because of their situations. A lot of the operations are based on the fuel moisture content and that dictates how, and in any agency or any jurisdiction and how they respond to fire, or how quickly they would have to respond because of the fire danger and how it’s rated.”

Buettner added First Nations Emergency Management crews are doing mitigation work and prescription burns to hopefully reduce the threat of fires and the amount of vegetation that could fuel an ongoing fire.

Meanwhile, the SPSA said it will host a wildfire briefing for media later this spring to provide an overview of operations and preparations for the wildfire season.

–With files from The Canadian Press

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derek.craddock@pattisonmedia.com

by Derek Craddock

Awareness of human-caused fires key as Sask. wildfire season approaches

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