Slave Lake, Alberta fire may not be the last of its kind: expert

Alberta’s fire season last year, which included more than $700 million in insured damages in Slave Lake, may not be the last of its kind.

“The 2011 fire season may well be the forerunner of future fire seasons,” wildlife behaviour specialist Dennis Quintilio noted as part of a technical briefing during the release of the long-anticipated Slave Lake report.

Weather extremes — wind particularly — the aging forest and interface developments built into forest areas combine to set “us up for more of these catastrophic events,” Quintilio told reporters.

The report of the independent Flat Top Complex Wildfire Review Committee was released just days after the first anniversary of the fires on May 15, 2011. The committee was struck to review Alberta Sustainable Resource Development’s wildfire management program, budget, policies and legislation in the wake of its response to fires that sparked insured losses in Canada second only to the ice storm in Quebec.

The wildfires burned 22,000 hectares in the Lesser Slave Lake area and destroyed more than 500 structures in the town and nearby communities. Alberta’s 2011 wildfire season saw 1,139 such blazes recorded and 792,173 hectares of forest burned.

Once ignited, no one could stop fires near Lesser Slave Lake from reducing almost a third of the northern Alberta town to rubble. “Our conclusion is we did not see any opportunity to employ other tactics to guarantee a different outcome without comprising responder safety,” committee chair Bill Sweeney said.

Aging forests and developments encroaching into forested areas are risk factors. Also, climate change is leading to longer, drier, hotter and windier fire seasons.

During the time of the Slave Lake wildfire, the area witnessed five days of sustained winds, measuring 50 to 60 km-h. The persistent winds were joined by an “unbelievable amount of ember transplant,” estimated at 900,000 per hectare, Quintilio said.

“Once little fires which are minor get into this forest area, where there’s black spruce – again associated with development – then, unfortunately, there’s embers and radiant heat and structures essentially ignite.”

Committee members penned 21 recommendations – meant to beef up prevention, protection and capacity in the wake of changing wildfire conditions – that can help extinguish the possibility of similar destruction.

Among other things, they recommended that Alberta Sustainable Resource Development:

• significantly enhance wildfire prevention;
• aggressively address human-caused wildfires;
• initiate resource requests in advance of potential demand;
• expand attack firefighting crews;
• issue fire weather advisories that include wildfire behaviour potential;
• review and update the Forest and Prairie Protection Act and regulations; and
• review ministry business continuity plans.

Alberta has since taken steps to enhance preparedness, including the following:

• starting the wildfire season a month early to pre-position firefighters, aircraft and equipment in forest areas;
• training 100 new firefighters in advance for duty this year; and
• updating its strategy and priorities for community protection, reviewing internal wildfire management standard operating procedures and updating FireSmart Community Plans to meet extreme wildfire events.

A review of the conditions and the special circumstances regarding the Slave Lake Wildfire. A technical briefing by Dennis Quintilio, Wildfire behaviour specialist [Video]: