ALBERTA – Alberta Premier Jason Kenney got fired up as he talked about the upcoming April 9 press conference where he will announce a series of preventive measures for the wildfire season.
“To be blunt, we are quite concerned about the possibility of managing this pandemic and then having a lot of wildfires at the same time like we did last summer and spring,” Kenney said during the April 6 press conference. “Those wildfires could severely affect air quality which could complicate the physical condition of people susceptible to the coronavirus.”
The Alberta wildfire season runs from March 1 to Oct. 31.
At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic hit the province on March 5 with the first presumptive case, jumping to 1,373 confirmed cases in the province by April 7 with 26 reported deaths and 447 recovered cases recorded. To date, the province has completed 67,117 tests.
As of Tuesday, the Bighorn region, formerly called the Canmore region which includes Exshaw and Canmore had 14 positive cases with five reported as recovered. The I.D. no 9 region which includes Banff and Lake Louise had three positive cases – all active.
The province declared a state of public health emergency on March 17 and put in strict public safety measures including the shut down of non-essential services, restricting public gatherings to 15 people maximum and asking that Albertans maintain physical distancing with each other, meaning keeping at least six feet apart from others when going out for groceries, medical trips and other essential needs.
But as the province battles the current global pandemic, Kenney said they also need to be preparing for the natural disasters that could occur.
“We are going to do everything we can to prevent wildfires,” Kenney said.
Noting the province will set up fire tower observation centres earlier than normal and start doing helicopter overhead flights, the Premier said the full list of measures will be announced on Thursday.
In a press release sent last month, it was noted that the 2019 wildfire season burned more than 883,411 hectares across the province with 989 fires and the majority, 71 per cent, were caused by humans.
“Most wildfires are preventable. More than 70 per cent of Alberta wildfires last year were caused by humans – and the McMillan wildfire near Slave Lake was started by arson. We will continue to promote prevention, provide adequate funding and improvements to forest management,” Devin Dreeshen, provincial minister of agriculture and forestry said in a press release last month.
Kenney urged Albertans to stay at home in the following weeks and weekends.
“So we will ask people, please, I know everyone is getting a bit stir crazy and tired of being stuck at home and people want to head out and enjoy the beautiful outdoors, especially when spring starts … [but] this is a critical moment,” the Premier stressed.
“This is an absolute critical moment. We expect the peak to hit several weeks from now and how high that peak goes then will depend a lot on how people conduct themselves now and this weekend and the weekend to come.”
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