LAC LA BICHE - Some questions about wildfire response policies put Lac La Biche County’s regional fire chief in the hot seat last week — but the facts behind recent incidents extinguished much of the heated concerns.
Regional Fire Chief and the municipality’s manager of Protective Services John Kokotilo was asked by municipal councillors last Tuesday to explain his department’s rollout to a pair of grassfires that took place the week before. Both fire calls — the first for a wildfire near Rich Lake, and the second for a grassfire near Craigend — came into the fire dispatch within moments of each other on the afternoon of April 30.
The Craigend and Rich Lake communities are located about 30 kilometres apart, along Highway 55 east of the Lac La Biche hamlet.
Although first-response units traveling to each location were only 90 seconds apart, the time delay apparently generated enough time for several concerned phone calls to be made to several municipal councillors. Kokotilo says he understands the concerns in this instance — and was pleased to explain it. He said residents near the Craigend fire simply didn't know the first fire crew was heading through their community toward the initial Rich Lake call.
"There were complaints that the fire truck went past the (Craigend) fire, and yes, that's right — it was going to the Rich Lake fire," said Kokotio, explaining that he was part of the second dispatch that arrived at the Craigend fire just a few minutes after the first fire truck drove by. "We had everything covered. People thought we were going right past the fire, but that was not the case at all."
Councillor Lorin Tkachuk said he received "a number of calls on this one." Councillor Colin Cote also said he had "received some concerns," and Mayor Omer Moghrabi heard a complaint as well. Councillor Sterling Johnson said he heard there had been water issues at the fire, and Cote said he'd heard there were some mechanical issues.
Kokotilo explained the fire call in detail, telling councillors that while there had been an issue in Craigend with the water pump on the department's wildland firefighting vehicle, the pump on his Fire Chief response vehicle was used instead. He also said that at no time were there fears of water shortages as equipment at the scene was filled with more than 3,000 gallons of water, and peace officers in support roles at the fire had located dugouts and other water sources within a short distance.
The fire chief also explained response time and location services associated with fire dispatches. He said a centralized dispatch located in Parkland County sends out detailed information about each call — including and exact location 'pinned' to a map. Each member of the municipality's fire department has a cell phone app that shows the incident location, complete with the same pinned map and GPS coordinates and any unique details.
Fire officials also have detailed maps that show water sources in and around the scene. Constant radio contact between fire officials keeps everyone up to date, explained Kokotilo, adding that instances where danger to residents or structures will be handled as more of a priority over other calls.
Behind the scenes
All of that detail and decision-making, he said is carried out within the communication channels of the fire department, which means the general public doesn't know all of the unique details with each call. While that can be frustrating for some, Kokotilo says the set procedures are in place to protect residents.
Lac La Biche County Coun. Jason Stedman is also a paramedic with the local EMS. He fully understands the frustration some residents may have — and thanked the fire chief for pulling back the curtains a little to put some of the recent concerns to rest.
"I think explanations are great. I appreciate getting this report... there were several complaints of water and calls of trucks going by ... I think this clarified this a lot," said Stedman. "In my experience with EMS.. this stuff happens.... and when you are not in the know — when you're not on the radio hearing, it can be frustrating, confusing .... I am glad that we had the breakdown to clarify."
Kokotilo also answered questions about the Buffalo Lake - Hylo fire that burned up 240 hectares of land last weekend, a few days after the much-smaller Rich Lake and Craigend fires. The fire chief explained command decisions at that fire ranging from the specific use of equipment, to creating contractor lists, setting response priorities and even why a particular set of hay bales were left to burn on a field that had already been scorched by the fire.
Kokotilo says a cause for each of the three wildland fires has not yet been determined.
Provincial Fires
While each of the fires were monitored by provincial wildfire resources, all three were on municipal land and actioned by municipal fire crews. Across the Lac La Biche Forest Management Area, Alberta Wildfire is currently reporting two active wildfires on provincial land.
One fire burning between Anzac and Conklin is said to be less than a third of a hectare in size.
A fire burning near the Beaver Lake Cree Nation is said to be less than a tenth of a hectare in size. Both fires are being reported as being held.
Alberta Wildfire officials say there have been 79 wildfires reported across the Lac La Biche Forest since the beginning of fire season on March 1. Those fires have burned an estimated 172 hectares of the regional forest area. Across the province, crews are currently working on nine active fires. Since March 1, there have been 286 wildfires reported across Alberta, burning about 900 hectares of land.
