The province of Alberta has banned the use of off-highway vehicles on public lands in southern areas of the province as officials prepare for a fire season that has the highest risk since the summer of 2003.
Restrictions extend south of the Red Deer River along the mountains and foothills to the northern boundary of Waterton National Park and include parks and protected areas, like the Kananaskis region and Ghost watershed, and were announced by Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Oneil Carlier on Tuesday (Aug. 1).
Carlier said there is a connection between off-highway vehicles and wildfires, so banning their use in areas under an extreme fire danger will help reduce the chance of a blaze being started.
“We have not seen numbers like this in southern Alberta since 2003,” said the minister, noting the fire danger due to continued hot dry and weather conditions is putting the southern half of the province at a higher risk than the north.
“Albertans have a strong connection to their forests and as minister I have spoken directly with OHV and environmental groups. I am confident everyone will do their part to help the people behind me protect Alberta from the threat of wildfire.”
Carlier made the announcement on the ban at the Alberta Wildfire Coordination Centre in Edmonton with Chad Morrison with Alberta Wildfire and Scott Long of the Alberta Emergency Management Centre.
Morrison said the Calgary fire region has 200 firefighters available to respond to a wildfire and 600 across the rest of the province.
“We are approaching historic wildfire conditions and we have not seen sign of rain in at least a month,” Morrison said. “Even with a fire ban, we have still had a few fires occur in the Calgary region.”
Morrison said this week they believe a wildfire was started by an OHV and quickly put out. The other major cause of recent wildfires firefighters have had to respond to in the region is abandoned campfires. With two thirds of wildfires being human caused, he urged outdoor recreationalists to take care while in forested areas.
The OHV ban is in addition to a fire ban in place for the entire region, provincial parks and protected areas and the municipalities like the Town of Canmore, Banff, and the MD of Bighorn.
Carlier compared current weather conditions and fire danger as similar to what was happening in 2003 when the Crowsnest Pass Lost Creek fire grew to 20,000 hectares in size and affected residents and businesses. That fire started on Aug. 21 and turned into a six kilometre long and 50 metre high wall of flames.
Long said firefighters and equipment from Alberta are also supporting efforts in B.C. to fight a significant number of wildfires in that province.
“We continue to work closely with emergency management counterparts to monitor the situation and provide advice,” he said, adding that includes Parks Canada, which is the agency responsible for responding to the Verdant Creek fire on the other side of the Alberta/B.C. border from Canmore, Banff and the Bow Valley.
“The province has already begun work to ensure municipalities have clear evacuation guidelines and re-entry criteria to be called upon in the time of disaster.”
Response equipment has been located strategically in the province, and critical infrastructure identified for protection in the event of a wildfire, he said.
Those include specifically designed units for when a forest fire meets an urban area and begins to burn development.
“As a wildfire moves from a forested area to an urban landscape, the skillsets for firefighters shift and we need to be prepared and we are,” Long said.
So far, for this wildfire season there has been approximately 850 fires and fewer than 5,000 hectares burned, which is below average. Currently, there are no out-of-control wildfires in the province.
Morrison said the province would continue to be available to Parks Canada to support its efforts to fight the still out-of-control Verdant Creek fire, which has grown to over 11,000 hectares as of Wednesday (Aug. 2).
“We have a mutual aid resource sharing agreement, so if we are required to assist in the national park we would and we are in constant communication with them as required and will continue to support them,” he said.
Those caught with a fire during a fire ban can be fined $287, while getting caught on an OHV during a ban could carry a fine of $575. You can also be fined from $100,000 to $1 million for carelessly starting a wildfire.
