CANMORE – It was the best behaved wildfire the Bow Valley has ever seen.
It went where it was told, gave firefighters ample time to set up protective measures and when the day was over, it simply disappeared like it never existed.
Of course, it was completely fictional as part of the Town of Canmore’s Georgetown Exercise – the Town’s largest wildfire training exercise in nearly two decades that allowed regional agencies to practice for the worst case scenario.
“These exercises are invaluable. There’s so much learning that comes out of it,” Canmore Fire-Rescue Chief Lance Bushie said. “This forces us to integrate our communications to work together and it’s great to build relationships with these agencies. If an actual incident happens, it helps understand all the players, the jurisdictions and the roles of everyone.”
Caitlin Miller, the Town of Canmore’s manager of protective services, agreed the exercise aided the different agencies working together.
She noted it helps with coordinating between the multiple jurisdictions if a major wildfire occurs in the valley.
“These exercises are really made to test our plans and test how things are going to go. … It’s simulated, so there would’ve been more happening, but testing the actual plan is really invaluable,” she said.
“There are so many jurisdictions that overlap, so practising and making sure we all understand where our areas of responsibility are and how we support each other while still doing the response and not taking resources that are needed elsewhere, it’s so important.”
While focusing on the Town of Canmore, fire crews from Banff Fire-Rescue, Kananaskis Improvement District, Alberta Wildfire, Alberta Environment and Parks, Lake Louise Fire Department, Exshaw Fire-Rescue, Calgary Emergency Management Agency, Alberta Emergency Management Agency, Nakoda Fire Department, Cochrane Search and Rescue, Canada Task Force 2, Canmore RCMP and Alpine Helicopters were all involved.
With municipalities and the province having mutual aid agreements, the exercise involved activating the Town’s emergency coordination centre (ECC), which was located at council chambers in Town hall, and an incident command post (ICP) along Palliser Trail.
The ICP focuses on the emergency scene with a unified command of the municipalities of Banff and Canmore, Alberta Environment and Parks and Kananaskis Improvement District. The ECC coordinates everything outside the immediate fire area such as taking care of evacuations and coordinating with nearby municipalities and the province.
“In this simulation, there are lots of air assets hitting it and as the fire approaches town, there’ll be much tighter coordination with the air and the ground because we have all the different people in the ICP so we can control the communications back and forth so they don’t conflict with each other,” Bushie said.
“It’s a much-needed exercise from the point of coordinating and working with our partners – the local partners as well as provincial. We have experts from around the province with the evaluation to give advice, so there’s a lot of brain power that came to Canmore for this.”
The simulation pretends a wildfire began in Banff National Park about 2.5 kilometres north of the Town of Canmore and Kananaskis Improvement District border. After being detected by Parks Canada Banff Field unit, helicopters and air tankers from Alberta Wildfire complete an airstrike.
Georgetown Exercise mock evacuation alert 1 by Greg on Scribd
However, after being unsuccessful the fire grew to 65 hectares and was roughly 6.5km away from the Larch area and 7km from the Canmore Nordic Centre, with smoke visible from Canmore and Harvie Heights. In a matter of hours, the fire will reach the border and edge of the residential area of Canmore.
The area was selected after a request from the Banff National Park field unit to have Parks Canada take part in the unified command structure.
Once activated, the ECC and ICP meet hourly for progress updates on what activities are being done, the status and mapping of the fire, the wind and if an evacuation has been ordered, what zones are leaving town. Town staff are assigned roles between the ECC and ICP, with communications staff pushing out messaging on all channels to inform the public as quickly as possible.
The meeting has multiple people from the municipal and provincial levels, with a state of emergency having been declared by Canmore Mayor Sean Krausert early in the process and mutual aid agreements activated.
Firefighters from multiple jurisdictions were on the ground primarily in the Larch and Fairholme areas, but also the Canmore Nordic Centre had them deliver evacuation alerts that provided information on what people should do in case of an emergency. It had them set up protective management systems – a large scale sprinkler system – in multiple areas to mitigate areas the fire could’ve reached.
Georgetown Exercise mock evacuation alert 2 by Greg on Scribd
The sprinklers are designed to soak the ground and for the exercise were hooked to the ground, but in real life scenarios can be nailed to structures to better fight potential fires.
Bush buggies from Exshaw Fire-Rescue and Canmore Fire-Rescue fire trucks also raced around to be able to spread water quickly on embers that have touched down – also known as impingement – to put out any risks.
Alpine Helicopters also did multiple bucket drops near the area of 900 Larch Place and the Bow River.
The objectives test the Municipal Emergency Management Plan (MEMP), the Town’s evacuation plan and the structure protection plan.
Under the Emergency Management Act, the exercise completes a requirement of the Local Authority Emergency Management Regulation.
Miller said every four years the Town has to do a form of training to practice its emergency plans, but not necessarily on the scale in the Georgetown exercise.
Canmore is broken into 23 evacuation zones. Depending on where the fire may come from determines which zone can leave, with the most at-risk deemed the priority.
“If there’s an emergency, we’re getting as many people out there so residents know what’s going on,” Miller said. “We’re not just relying on media or social media. We’re going to be going to your house to say if you need to get out. We’re going to mobilize as many people to knock on doors. It’s part of our emergency management plan.”
The last large scale exercise was in 2019 in the Town of Banff, which focused on evacuation in case of a wildfire and involved about 300 people. While the Town of Canmore annually trains for such an emergency, the previous exercise on such a scale was done in 2004.
Town staff applied for a FireSmart program grant through the Forest Resource Improvement Association of Alberta last November and received the $30,000 grant in December.
Throughout Alberta, wildfires are a reality come each spring. In 2021, there were 1,308 wildfires in the province, according to Alberta Wildfire statistics. The five-year average is 1,123 fires annually, with 68 per cent being caused by humans.
Last year, 52,955 hectares were burned, while the recent high was 883,411 hectares in 2019.
A two-hectare wildfire began May 28 near Waiparous Village and spread to be 4.2 hectares, but was brought under control by Alberta Wildfire and remains under investigation.
There were two large wildfires last year, with one last July near Lac Des Arcs that consumed about 4.4 hectares of forest and another at Dead Man’s Flats in August that burned roughly 10 hectares.
In 2017, the Verdant Creek wildfire began from a lightning strike in Kootenay National Park and consumed roughly 18,000 hectares in two months.
According to the Alberta Wildfire dashboard on Monday (June 6), there have been 403 wildfires in 2022.
The Dead Man’s Flats Community Association will also hold a FireSmart awareness day June 11.
The event is meant to educate residents, especially following the wildlife near Dead Man’s Flats last August. Exshaw Fire Rescue and Canmore Fire Rescue will be on hand as well as a representative from Alberta Forestry and Agriculture and the MD of Bighorn’s structure protection trailer.
While the exercise allows jurisdictions to coordinate in the field, it also allows residents to prepare their own emergency plan.
Miller said it’s important for people to quickly find important documents such as insurance, but also to have a kit to prepare to leave the community for up to 72 hours or longer and ensure a vehicle always has more than a half tank of gas.
“Everyone has some responsibility around emergency preparedness,” she said. “It’s paying attention to Alberta Emergency Alerts and Town alerts and being prepared to leave your house for up to 72 hours, but potentially longer.”
Alex Jones, a fire specialist with Parks Canada, said it’s key for residents to follow those emergency channels in case the worst happens.
“It’s an opportunity to get ready for emergencies, while the Town of Canmore prepares it’s also critical residents understand their own family emergency plans and following all the appropriate channels such as the Town of Canmore, Alberta Emergency Alerts,” she said. “You can be prepared just by following those channels where information may be released.”
FireSmart
Home Ignition Zone
Non-combustible zone: From the structure outwards for 1.5 metres to clear tree branches and only have non-combustible material
Zone 1: From 1.5m to 10m, vegetation management is meant to clear anything that may cause a fire
Zone 2: 10m to 30m from the building, is meant to have an environment that may only spread fire of a lower intensity and rate of spread
Zone 3: From 30m to 100m, clearing is only needed if it has high-extreme levels from heavy continuous coniferous forest vegetation
