Arctic Fire Safety Services Limited President Kris Liivam said no Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) contractors were deployed during the recent wildfire evacuations in Alberta. Instead, the Alberta government chose to deploy municipal fire services. “This job-killing action also put those responding communities at extreme risk, as most answering fire departments also shared the same tinder dry conditions during that time,” said Liivam in a Sunday statement. “Some fire chiefs who did send resources had to publicly address concerns about their resource levels as their residents are now openly questioning their motivations.”Liivam said an example showing why this must change was when Williams Lake, BC, was under wildfire threat in 2017. Lake Country, BC, sent its brush truck and crew to participate in the defence, but it was under an extreme fire risk. A wildfire broke out in Lake Country, destroying 30 homes and causing 300 other families to be evacuated for weeks. While he is not saying one crew would have saved it all, he predicted they likely would have saved a few more homes. When this happens again, he said it “will be a shared disaster for the local council, but the ministers will wear it as well.” He added there will be lawsuits and negative media attention when people realize their volunteer fire departments are being pimped out by mayors, councils, and chief administrative officers to provinces. Rather than be the first responders, he said municipal fire departments should be the last ones. He has spoken with owners of other WUI contractors, and none were deployed to protect these communities. After the last wildfire season, many of these contractors spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in expanding their fleets, building more sprinkler trailers, buying more fire trucks, and training their crews in anticipation of helping Alberta this year. The president went on to say he hoped lessons were learned last year. However, he said what they saw this spring “was a giant kick in the gut, a big middle finger to private industry, trying to fill a need and supplanted by union and political interests.”While he would expect this behaviour from the Alberta NDP, he said he is stunned the United Conservative Party is doing this. Liivam continued by saying taxpayers paid for fire trucks and sprinkler trailers to stay in their home jurisdictions. He added they expect these units to protect them and their neighbours rather than be deployed to other parts of Alberta. Alberta has a sizeable private firefighting industry that has supported the oil and gas sector and forestry for many years. There are more than 2,000 private firefighters, 200 private fire trucks, and numerous sprinkler trailers spread across various contractors. He said he was disgusted the Alberta Emergency Management Agency and Alberta Wildfire worked with Intact and Wildfire Defence Systems to operate in contactors’ jurisdiction. AEMA and Alberta Wildfire allowed 32 American firefighters with eight fire trucks to come in and go back to the United States in two weeks while Albertan firefighting contactors watched them on television. Liivam concluded by saying Alberta does not need American or foreign firefighters until it improves its standards. “Alberta should be Canada’s and world’s firefighting leader with the abundant emergency resources we have — instead we are choosing to still be the victim,” he said. The Alberta government said on Thursday the hard work and preparation from Alberta Wildfire allowed it to take advantage of the recent rain, which has led to a significant decline in wildfires. READ MORE: Alberta government says wildfire status continuing to improveAt the moment, 30 wildfires are burning in the Forest Protection Area of Alberta. Twenty of these wildfires carried over from the 2023 season, and all of them are under control or being held. “There’s a wildfire that started in the Northwest Territories in 2023 that’s still burning along the border north of High Level, and both Alberta and the Northwest Territories are actively fighting this wildfire,” said Alberta Forestry and Parks Minister Todd Loewen.Alberta Forestry and Parks could not be reached for comment in time for publication.
