In the wake of the destructive wildfire in Fort McMurray, the Town of Banff is trying to reassure residents of the mountain town that it’s well prepared to fight a wild blaze.
The biggest fire threat to Banff comes from the west or southwest, but fire officials say a lot of work has been done to try to fireproof the town in the past 15 years, including forest thinning and prescribed burns that aim to slow down an advancing fire.
Fire officials say the municipality’s new wildfire preparedness guide, including a comprehensive inventory of all at-risk structures in town, and updated tactical response plan, puts Banff in a good position.
“We believe the Town is well prepared to deal with wildland-urban interface fire,” said Silvio Adamo, Banff’s fire chief and manager of protective services, during a briefing to council.
“We’ll never be able to wipe out the risk completely, but we will continue to work to keep our risk as low as possible given the environment that we are dealing with.”
Two fires around Fort McMurray have now joined and by Wednesday the fire had grown to 229,000 hectares. Approximately 2,400 structures were lost, including whole neighbourhoods, and nearly 90,000 residents were evacuated.
The fire was first spotted burning south of the city May 1. Hot dry weather, high winds and low humidity, set within a dense boreal forest, meant the area was primed to burn, and as the fire moved northward, it jumped the Athabasca River into the city.
Adamo was asked whether the intensity of the Fort McMurray fire was the same for all communities within forested areas, but he said he would classify that fire as an “extreme example.
“The forested area around Fort McMurray is very, very dense, and because it’s such a vast area with no breaks at all, it becomes a very high intensity wildfire,” he said.
“The forested area in and around Banff and Banff National Park, and with the way we’re laid out, you really can’t compare us to Fort McMurray in that respect because of the natural fire breaks.”
The effects of global warming on temperature, precipitation levels and soil moisture are turning many forests into kindling – and fires in North America are expected to burn more frequently and with more intensity and become increasingly unpredictable.
Historically, most large Bow Valley wildfires were influenced by strong southerly winds pushing fires in a northeasterly direction, and the new wildfire preparedness plan looks at how fire is anticipated to spread, based on a number of different scenarios.
One scenario looks at a fire approaching the townsite from Spray Valley, while another considers a fire starting on the southwest side of Sulphur Mountain or Sundance Pass, then burning toward Mountain Avenue and the Middle Springs subdivision.
Trains, power lines and illegal camping are all also potential sources of ignition along the north side of the townsite. One scenario reveals prevailing winds could push fires or carry embers from the fires into town, or across Banff Avenue and onto Tunnel Mountain.
“There’s various scenarios based on our history, based on our fuel type, prevailing wind, weather, and what we and Parks Canada have done to mitigate an approaching wildfire,” said Adamo. “All those factors are combined and we come up with some fire behaviour analysis and then we prepare for those types of fires threatening our community.”
Adamo said the intent of Banff’s new wildfire preparedness guide is to provide a fire management team with an overview of the planning area, fire behaviour potential, a list of at-risk infrastructure, and tactics that can be used in the event a wildfire threatens Banff.
The document, he said, includes a list of high priority areas and buildings to be protected, including schools, fire halls, hospital, power stations, water supplies and reservoir, as well as how they’re to be protected.
“Those are crucial values at risk,” said Adamo. “We want to make sure those are maintained as we fight the fire and make sure there’s service to the community.”
Both Parks Canada and the Town of Banff have done a lot of forest thinning and fuel reduction in strategic locations in and around the town, including 50 hectares inside town boundaries, and 1,000 hectares outside town.
As well, Parks Canada has burned about 4,000 hectares in several different locations in the Bow Valley over the years that also aim to reduce fire intensity and limit the growth of spot fires.
Banff has also applied for an $85,000 grant from the provincial government to do maintenance work on 50 hectares where the forest has been thinned and deadwood removed over the years, as well as work on a 1.5-hectare area near the Fenlands.
“We can never completely predict fire behaviour, but the hope is to slow it down,” said Adamo. “Fuel reduction is about reduction of ember loading, which is really what the threat is to the community.”
Councillor Stavros Karlos said he was thankful to the Town of Banff’s administration and to Parks Canada for all the work they do to protect the community from the threat of a future wildfire.
“Six years ago I was taken up by a helicopter and ever since then I’ve just been panicking, so it’s good to see all the work that’s being done,” he said. “I know we can never completely eliminate the risk.”
Coun. Ted Christensen said he would like to see a broader plan to consider further forest thinning, including removal of mature trees.
“We still have lots of spruce trees, mature trees, all around my place, with great amounts of cones, towering trees 40 and 50 feet high,” he said.
“I know one community in B.C. went on a logging boom and logged off a lot of their big trees. I’d just like to put that out as something that we could consider.”
Coun. Chip Olver said many concerned residents have been asking her about Banff’s readiness to fight a wildfire since the devastating Fort McMurray fire, including one woman who indicated she wanted to move away from Banff because she can’t handle the stress anymore.
Olver said she would like to see the Town of Banff communicate with residents not just on what to do if the community is threatened by fire, but on the extensive work already done to protect the community.
She said the FireSmart website also gives residents tips on how to assess threats and better fireproof their homes and properties.
“I think because people are so concerned, and because we have the horrible situation in the north, this would be a fabulous time for communication,” said Olver.
