Alberta has a new program where people who want to help battle wildfires can offer their skills or heavy equipment.
During last year’s unprecedented wildfire season, Albertans were looking for ways to help protect their homes and communities.
Alberta started putting steps in place to manage those offers last season, wildfire information officer Christie Tucker said on Monday.
“This year, it’s really becoming formalized,” she said.
“We have introduced a program this year for people to become a wildfire reservist and we have been receiving a lot of inquiries — people who are eager to help.
“Either these are people who have heavy equipment they want to help us use for things like building that fire guard and containing wildfires around communities or people who have individual skills that we can put to work with some training to assist us,” Tucker said.
Anyone who’s interested in the wildfire reservist program can learn more and sign up on the Alberta Wildfire website under the “How you can help” section.
The program hires emergency firefighters if needed. Candidates will receive training and must pass a fitness test.
There are also non-firefighting support positions like data entry, camp supervisors and people to help load and unload cargo.
The wildfire reservist program signup form asks about applicants’ location, preferred forest area, availability, related experience, previous training and any available equipment.
Tucker said the current wildfire situation has not required Alberta Wildfire to call on reservists.
“At the moment, we have sufficient resources with our seasonal wildland firefighters and our contract firefighters that we have in place. They are fully trained and ready to go and are out there active in the community,” she said.
“But… we want to ensure we alert people well in advance so they can receive the training they need in order for them to be deployed if we need them.”
Tucker said that once people register their interest through the website, there’s an internal process to evaluate and assign them.
Alberta Wildfire also has a signup form for contracting opportunities to help with wildfire response — which also require specific training.
Contractors can include those with heavy equipment such as bulldozers, excavators, water trucks and personnel carriers as well as aircraft and other specialized equipment or services.
For the latest information about which areas in Alberta are under an evacuation alert or order due to a wildfire, visit the Alberta Emergency Alert website.
For the latest information about wildfire status and danger across the province, visit the Alberta Wildfire website.
The latest information on fire advisories, restrictions and bans across the province can be found on the Alberta fire bans website.