$40M earmarked to prepare New Brunswick for the threat of wildfires
Federal-provincial money will go to wildfire training and equipment
As wildfires are getting worse in other parts of Canada, the federal and provincial governments are dedicating more funding to help prevent the same from happening here in New Brunswick.
A new initiative to find firefighting prevention and preparedness was announced Friday in Riverview.
Over $40 million in funding, over four years, will go toward equipment upgrades, training and wildfire education initiatives for the public.
In announcing the funding, officials made reference to devastating fires last year in Jasper, Alta., as well as in suburban Halifax two years ago.
"That could have easily been in this region or somewhere else in New Brunswick," Robin True, the Riverview fire chief, said.
"We have a lot of biomass, we have a lot of trees out there that are available for fuel," he said.
"So it just takes the right weather, the right conditions for a couple weeks of dry spell for forest fires to be an issue here in the province."
A small forest fire near Saint Andrews, in May 2023, is New Brunswick's most recent example of a dangerous wildfire.
Even though the town is a suburban part of the Greater Moncton area, True said his department covers forested areas, and the support from the province for wildfire training and equipment is always welcome.
"So certainly a town like Riverview could benefit from support any time we have forest fires," True said.
Federal cabinet minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor, MP for Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe, appearing on behalf of Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, said Canada's wildfire season last year had four times the number of wildfires and area burned than the 10-year average.
"I think we all recognize that we need to do more to make sure that our communities are ready to withstand the impacts, for the health of our communities and our local economies," Petitpas Taylor said.
As the severity of wildfires increase, she said the costs of fighting them are expected to double by 2040.
The money will be used to update outdated firefighting equipment in the province, as well as for using new technology such as drones to spot hotspots during wildfires.
It will also go to FireSmart Canada, an education program that helps people make their neighbourhoods more resilient to wildfires, which will launch in New Brunswick this spring.
"The funding will help conduct community risk assessments, implement community-based wildfire mitigation projects, and launch awareness campaigns aligned with the FireSmart principles," Pettipas Taylor said.
John Herron, provincial Minister of Natural Resources said some funds will also be earmarked for the Wabanaki Wildland Wildfire Crew, the first Indigenous firefighting crew in Atlantic Canada, which deployed to Alberta last year.
"With our changing climate and increasing risk from wildfire, we must all do our part," Heron said.
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With files from Victoria Walton