Alberta rolls out wildfire spending, ups emergency fund to $2B for 2024
Drought and wildfire expenses for the last fiscal year added up to $2.9 billion
The Alberta government will spend more to monitor and combat wildfires in 2024, and put aside a bigger contingency fund after taking out more than $1 billion to deal with the most destructive wildfire season on record.
In total, drought and wildfire expenses for the last fiscal year added up to $2.9 billion, including agriculture disaster support.
After nearly three-quarters of a $1.5-billion contingency fund went toward wildfire response in 2023, the UCP government's 2024-25 budget is boosting the total to $2 billion.
Forestry and Parks Minister Todd Loewen said Friday that an additional $55 million will go toward wildfire management this year, with $151 million in total spending over the next three years.
That will increase the number of nighttime wildfire-fighting helicopters from one to three, add two new air tanker contracts and more drones for aerial surveillance.
But after declaring an early start to wildfire season, the province will turn to their emergency fund again if 2024 is another extreme fire year. Scientists say climate change is upping the risk of longer, more intense wildfire seasons.
"We do have to be prepared for the worst, which could be another unprecedented season," Loewen said.
"I think with a $2-billion contingency, we're going into this year in good shape, in that way."
In a statement, NDP agriculture, forestry and rural economic development critic Heather Sweet accused the government of "planning for the upcoming wildfire season on a hope and a prayer."
She said preparation is being underfunded, and doesn't fully address communities' needs.
Loewen previously announced that the province will hire an additional 100 firefighters this year, with Alberta Wildfire aiming to be fully staffed by mid-April.
'There better be plans in place'
Last year, a fire burning less than 10 kilometres away from Fort Chipewyan, forced residents from their homes in the remote northern Alberta community for more than three weeks.
Fort Chip Métis Nation president Kendrick Cardinal said there should be more support and funding for local firefighters and fire suppression efforts in Indigenous communities.
"There better be plans in place to not go through what we went through last year," he said.
"The Alberta government needs to focus heavily on fire season this year, but it's unpredictable."
In Janvier, about 100 kilometres southeast of Fort McMurray, fire chief Taeryong Park echoed the call for support for small, remote communities, including building fire breaks.
"If you have a fire barricade, we have some time … but if you don't have anything, then basically a whole entire small community is going to burn down. That's my concern as a rural fire chief," he said.
"Bigger cities and bigger towns have more firefighting power."
Loewen said the province is proactively reaching out to communities that may need fire guards for protection, including Indigenous communities.
Yellowhead County, which covers a large rural area west of Edmonton, also spent months under wildfire threat last year, enduring two rounds of evacuation orders.
The county called for improvements from the province, pointing to issues getting enough resources to respond as a fire grew out of control in April 2023 — so early in the wildfire season that lakes were still frozen, and air tankers couldn't fill up.
Mayor Wade Williams said Friday that there are now efforts underway to help more people get the necessary certification to pitch in with fire suppression, and a request for farmers to register their equipment, in case there's a call for help building fire guards or other protection.
But, "I don't think that we can be fully prepared, particularly if it happens again like happened last year," he said.
"[The government] is trying to get as many people and as much equipment in place, but a year like last year, it's very, very hard to react to."
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With files from Dennis Kovtun and Jamie Malbeuf