Wildfire season is fast approaching.
After another year of drought and low snowpack, fire crews are anxious about what they’ll be facing starting this spring.
In 2023, 38,000 Albertans were displaced by evacuation orders affecting 48 communities; some were evacuated more than once.
Last year, 1,088 wildfires burned an obscene record of 2.2 million hectares in Alberta, almost double the previous record set in 1981, with 1.3 million hectares burned.
Suffice it to say that 2023 was the worst in a growing number of ‘bad years” when it comes to wildfires.
What is happening to ensure the hell-storm that happened last year doesn’t recur in 2024?
How’s 2024’s Wildfire Season Shaping Up?
The number of wildfires that firefighters are already facing in 2024 is unbelievable.
And the wildfire season has not ‘officially’ even started yet!
In the dead of winter, firefighters are already battling 57 wildfires across the province.
A dozen blazes started in January and February, months before the official “start” of wildfire season on March 1.
The rest of the fires are the leftovers of 2023. They’ve just kept burning.
“We had over 60 wildfires that were carryover wildfires from the 2023 season, which is incredibly high compared to what we typically see,” explained Alberta Wildfire Information Officer Melissa Story on Global News.
For those interested in how many carry-over fires are typical, the answer is six.
This year is already off to 10 times the expected wildfires, and it’s only February!
As Wildfire Information Officer Story explains, “We’re coming into this wildfire season with less snow on the ground, less precipitation and higher temperatures than we typically see for this time of year.”
Besides this, El Niño is set to wreak havoc again.
El Niño and La Niña
El Niño and La Niña are terms for abnormal climate patterns in the Pacific Ocean that affect weather worldwide.
El Niño references waters being hotter than usual, and La Niña references waters being colder than normal.
(Why these climactic events have been termed “the boy”’ and “the girl” in Spanish is a long story.)
Last year and continuing this year, we’ve been experiencing what weather researchers have called a Super El Niño.
From November to January, the temperature of the tropical Pacific Ocean, where El Niño originates, was 2 degrees Celsius warmer than normal, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center – a threshold that has only been breached six times on record.
It means we’re experiencing an extreme El Niño.
So, how do warmer waters in the Pacific affect Alberta?
They cause the ocean’s usual jet stream to move south of its neutral position.
This shift made northern US and Canada areas dryer and warmer than usual—perfect conditions for more and bigger wildfires.
Forecasters just announced that rather than moving from El Niño to more normal conditions after this summer, they expect conditions to flip to the opposite extreme, La Niña.
La Niña equals cooler-than-average conditions in the eastern tropical Pacific, which usually results in more rain and increased flooding for us.
We’re likely up for an intense and early fire season, topped off by flooding in the fall.
Lovely.
So, What’s Being Done to Make Sure We Aren’t Spit Roasted?
Some say a lot, some say not much.
But it’s evident more preventative steps need to be made.
“Our province faced an unprecedented challenge this past wildfire season. Wildfire staff worked tirelessly to keep our forests and communities safe, showing strength and determination through their efforts,” Forestry and Parks Minister Todd Loewen said.
The Alberta government faced backlash last year for not being adequately prepared for the wildfire season, a situation Loewen is keen to avoid this year.
“We are bracing for the most challenging scenario,” he stated.
Minister Loewen didn’t say exactly how many more firefighters they plan to hire – they’re keeping it secret until the budget is released. But, he did point out that the province has gotten a record-breaking number of people applying to be firefighters, adding:
“A number of communities, including Indigenous communities, have been eager to contribute, but we lacked a formal process to involve them,” he explained. “This doesn’t imply they’ll be directly combating the most intense parts of the fire. However, there’s considerable auxiliary work that needs to be done.”
Better Late than Never?
The province aims to be fully prepared for April 15, which Loewen says is two weeks earlier than usual. It is, however, a month and a half after the wildfire season officially starts.
“A lot of our crews are Indigenous firefighters, and we also have university students, so as the university season ends, then the fire season begins,” he told City News.
We hadn’t realized wildfires were so polite to wait for graduations; how nice of them.
Like the firefighting numbers, Loewen says that until the provincial budget is announced, they can’t disclose any other tactics they’ll be using.
“We have plans to make sure we are ready no matter what the budget turns out to be.”
While Loewen assures upcoming support from the provincial government, others are less sure.
Not Nearly Enough?
Alberta Fire Chiefs Association (AFCA) has voiced concerns that more needs to be done to mitigate what they expect will be an extremely high-risk wildfire season.
“Time is running short for meaningful discussions and planning from a multi-jurisdictional, multi-level government approach… with respect to this year’s upcoming fire season,” AFCA President Randy Schroeder told Global News.
In an open letter to members of the Alberta government, the AFCA urgently called for a disclosure of this year’s wildfire preparedness strategy.
“These wildfires are occurring with greater frequency, intensity and duration across more expansive areas than in the past,” the AFCA said in the public letter.
The AFCA has engaged in discussions with government ministries, advocating for more resources, expanded training opportunities, enhanced equipment provisions, aerial support, and the formation of a provincial fire services advisory committee.
“We feel that there’s been a lack of engagement,” Schroeder said. “We need a strategy because last year’s fires created a burden on all levels of government in terms of response.”
The AFCA emphasized to the government that depending on municipalities to financially support wildland fire response “is not sustainable.”
Band-Aid Responses Not The Solution
The key takeaway from all this is that even the province ramps up resources to “fight” wildfires on the ground over the next few months – this is a band-aid solution to an ever-growing problem that’s being ignored.
This tactic relies on emergency workers risking their lives as the “best option” to combat fires.
It also ignores the most pertinent aspect of why we’re experiencing fires that are so much harder to put out than usual.
As Story said, “We’re coming into this wildfire season with less snow on the ground, less precipitation and higher temperatures than we typically see for this time of year.”
As the changing climate progresses, this isn’t a problem that will be going anywhere – no matter how many heroic crews and night vision helicopters we employ.
“There’s a saying out there that goes, ‘Don’t ever let a disaster go to waste,” said President Ken McMullen, who also works as Red Deer’s chief of emergency services.
We must pay attention to the extreme climate patterns that have been repeating for the past decade.
While the provincial government slowly crafts their “wildfire budget” for this year, they’ve acted quickly to put the breaks on longer-term solutions like renewable energy, all while promoting the use of heat-trapping natural gas as the ‘green fuel’ of the future.
In typical Alberta, ‘get ‘er done’ attitude, many municipalities and individual Albertans are not waiting around for the province to act and are preparing for an even worse fire season this year.
