Yellowhead County wants more proactive wildfire measures from province

Yellowhead County Council and officials are calling on more robust support from the Alberta government after a devastating wildfire season forced residents in and around Edson, Alta., to have to flee their homes twice. 

The concerns were discussed during a council meeting on Tuesday. 

"County worked collectively with Alberta wildfire to control and extinguish these fires, and during this period, there were many issues that occurred," said Albert Bahri, county director of protective services and fire chief.

Bahri listed issues such as a delayed response in getting enough staff to fight the wildfires and having necessary equipment in time after the fire started on April 23, and grew progressively. 

"To make it very clear, this is not directed at the boots-on-the-ground firefighters in the Edson forest protection management," Bahri said. 

"They work diligently to control and extinguish these fires."

More than 8,000 residents were ordered to leave on June 9 as a fire grew dangerously close to Edson's southern boundary. It was the second time the town was evacuated this year due to the threat of wildfire. 

Both Bahri and Yellowhead County Mayor Wade Williams raised concern during the meeting that having a provincial election during a wildfire crisis hampered the province's ability to act. 

There was speculation ahead of the election on May 29 as to whether Elections Alberta would delay the vote. 

A delay did not happen, and the election proceeded as scheduled. 

WATCH | Archive video: Impact of wildfire season on Albertans amid a provincial election 

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With wildfires raging across northern and central Alberta, and tens of thousands of people forced to evacuate, it can be easy to forget that the province is in the middle of an election campaign. With just under two weeks to go before election day, CBC Calgary's Jason Markusoff helps explain how the fires are impacting the race to become premier.

"Mayor was requesting, as we were, to have the [forest burning] ban put in the forest," Bahri said.

"The province would not do that; they had basically gone into election mode, and it was a struggle to get that done."

The ban was eventually put in place, but Williams questions the responsiveness of the province amid communication issues on where to deploy resources. 

"I was trying to explain to them, 'Yes, we have no fires in the west right now, but we have a number of fires in the east.' All our resources are tapped out. If we get a fire going in the west, we have no resources to send there," Williams said. 

"It was a real struggle, and I honestly think it was political will that was causing that not to be done, so that was the big push."

There were more than 250 municipal firefighters from Yellowhead County firefighters, the Town of Edson firefighters, and other municipal fire departments from across Alberta in the area following the June evacuation, according to a previous news release by the county.

This was in addition to the more than 400 firefighters with Alberta Wildfire.

Calls for support 

The county composed a public letter calling on the province to provide stronger assistance ahead of next year's wildfire season as the community hopes to be ready for future wildfires.

County officials hope to meet with Todd Loewen, minister of forestry and parks, to discuss the issues they said they encountered.

The issues include prioritizing forest burn bans, wildfire staffing levels and training, and aircraft and equipment support in time for March 2024.

CBC News has requested comment from the Ministry of Forestry and Parks on its wildfire mitigation response.