Although the recent snowfall may make it seem otherwise, this winter has been so mild and dry that the province has started wildfire season a month early.
As of March 1, the provincial government has its firefighting equipment on stand-by and will be training more firefighters. Albertans are also now required to have fire permits for any burning they want to do, with the exception of campfires.
Lac La Biche County is divided into two fire zones: the provincial boundary – which currently requires fire permits – covers the southwest corner of the county, including most of the Hamlet of Plamondon; the County Fire Zone has different rules and won’t require a fire permit until April 1.
Wildfire season typically starts in April, but the decision to prepare earlier was made because of the dry conditions the province saw this winter, said Frank Oberle, the Minister of Sustainable Resource Development.
“We’re worried about the susceptibility to wildfires this spring,” Oberle said in a conference on Feb. 29. “We believe there’s a higher risk this year.”
The majority of northeastern Alberta is forecasted to have high to very high levels of drought in April. Lac La Biche County is located just below a region that is predicted to be very dry.
Data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shows that many parts of the province saw temperatures at record highs and snow amounts at record lows this winter.
The Lac La Biche area lacks the weather stations necessary for an accurate weather picture, but it is on the edge of an extremely dry region, said Ralph Wright, a soil moisture specialist with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. But Wright pointed out there is a chance that the dry season may turn around – it all depends on Mother Nature.
“It’s too early to tell exactly what spring is going to be like,” he said, adding that big swings in precipitation are common. “Even last year, we went from wet to dry to wet to dry, and there was no easy or predictable transition.”
