The Alberta government is providing an additional $900,000 for upgrading equipment and adding new stations to the fire weather network.
This brings the total investment to $1.9 million over three years.
“These enhancements to our monitoring network will help wildfire response teams do what they do best: act quickly and efficiently with more accurate, up-to-date weather data,” said Todd Loewen, minister of Forestry and Parks, during a Thursday (April 10) announcement.
The fire weather network currently has 150 weather stations that collect data on environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, wind conditions and moisture levels.
The new funding will go toward upgrading old equipment and technology as well as adding new stations in under-monitored areas
“Alberta Wildfire is working to identify the most strategic locations for these new stations based on data gaps, fire history and emerging threats,” Loewen said. “This is about getting the right information into the right hands at the right time and using it to help keep people, property and the landscape safe.”
The minister added this expanded network would have improved monitoring throughout the winter months.
“New sensors will allow us to be able to track snowpack accumulation, giving us a clearer picture of how dry or how moist the conditions might be at the start of wildfire season,” he said.
Todd Dettling, vice president of stakeholder engagement and energy solutions with Fortis Alberta, applauded the announcement. He noted Fortis Alberta uses this type of information to enhance its understanding of impacts to its system and reduce the risk that wildfires can create.
“Investing in wildfire mitigation is not only the right thing to do for Albertans, but it’s also another important way that we can work together to protect critical infrastructure that supplies electricity to our communities, businesses and industry,” Dettling said.
The Alberta government has allocated $160 million for the base wildfire budget, an increase of $5 million from 2024. It has also added a new night vision helicopter in addition to committing $15 million for the Community Fireguard program and $10.8 million in FireSmart programming.
However, the Province has been accused of cutting Alberta’s firefighting budget in the past, such as by ending its rappel program in 2019.
During the 2024 wildfire season, 708,528 hectares burned in Alberta, and a third of the Jasper townsite was destroyed.
This year has so far been relatively tame, with only eight active wildfires as of Thursday (April 10) compared to 58 active fires at this time last year.
Loewen attributed this to the work of wildfire crews starting in the fall and the cooperative weather, and while there had been significant snow in parts of Alberta, he remained “cautiously optimistic.”
“We know we’re going to have fires, so it’s just a matter of how many and how intense,” he said. “May is always a critical month for us because the snow is gone, the grass is dry and the moisture hasn’t come into the trees yet, so we’ll know more as the season goes along.”
Albertans are reminded to check for fire bans or restrictions before burning, obtain a fire permit if they are burning in a forest protection area, properly put out campfires and download the Alberta Wildfire app from the App Store or Google Play.
The Alberta wildfire season runs from March 1 to Oct. 31.
