Friday morning, the Flat Top Complex Wildfire Review Committee released its report on the response to the Slave Lake wildfire May 15 2011.
The purpose of the review was to look at Sustainable Resource Development (SRD)’s wildfire management program and budget, relevant policies and legislation, access information on the wildfire conditions and behaviour for the Flat Top Complex and the encroachment of wildfire into nearby communities, evaluate SRD’s wildfire operations for the area concerned, consider SRD’s response to the Chisholm Fire Review Committee Final Report from 2001, and make recommendations on how SRD can improve its wildfire management program.
The Committee is putting forward 21 recommendations that fall under seven themes. Full recommendations can be found in the full report.
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The seven themes for attention are Wildfire Prevention, Preparedness and Capacity, Communications, Organization and Incident Management, Post-wildfire Business Resumption, Policy and Legislation, and Research and Development.
The recommendations include:
– significant enhancement to wildfire prevention
– expand attack firefighting crews, modeled after U.S. Hot Shot crews
– enhance standards for operational communications
– issue fire weather advisories that include wildfire behaviour potential
– realign wildfire operations to direct live reporting
– along with Alberta Emergency Management Agency, align imiplementation of the Incident Command System and use of Incident Management Teams
– review wildfire policies and associated procedures
– collaborate to support research, development and monitoring in key areas
For more in-depth summaries of the 21 recommendations, click here.
“I am encouraged to see the government has recognized the need to improve its capability to protect the growing number of Albertans living in the province’s forested communities,” says committee Chair Bill Sweeney.
Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development Minister Diana McQueen promised a timely and thorough response to all of the report’s recommendations. Since the Slave Lake fires, government has already made changes to the way Alberta prepares for and prevents wildfires, many of which mirror the report’s recommendations.
“As a government committed to continuous learning, we must find ways to ensure that we and all Albertans move forward in a timely and responsible way to prevent others from having to experience that kind of devastation,” says McQueen.
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