August was a hot month in Alberta, with little moisture, leading to dry conditions in many parts of the province.
Fire advisories, restrictions and bans are in place throughout much of Alberta. As of Thursday afternoon, 25 fire bans were in place in Alberta’s forest protection area, the majority of which are in southern Alberta.
“Our fire danger is very high across most of the province, with a few areas of extreme wildfire danger,” said Melissa Story, a provincial information officer with Alberta Wildfire.
Story said the current wildfire conditions are typical for this time of year, but said this weekend’s hot weather forecast is typically a bit warmer than they’re used to.
That, coupled with the dry ground conditions, can lead to increased fire dangers, particularly heading into a long weekend.
“Typically we see a lot of human-caused wildfires over long weekends. Last year, 67 per cent of wildfires were human caused,” she said. “We are seeing a lot of dry conditions. It’s not unlikely that those things happen.
“The warm temperatures are a little bit out of character for what we normally see for this time of year, so we just really ask Albertans to vigilant if they’re out camping this weekend or if they’re out in the forested areas. Make sure they you’re putting out your campfires by soaking it, stirring it and soaking it again.”
As of Thursday afternoon, there were 57 active wildfires in Alberta, five of which started in the last 24 hours. Forty wildfires are classified as being held and 16 are under control. One fire is listed as out of control.
To date, about 1,025 wildfires have occurred in Alberta and around 140,000 hectares have burned. The five-year average for this time of year is just over 1,000 wildfires and 190,000 hectares burned.
“Typically in the fall, these are the kind of conditions that we see,” Story explained. “We tend to get drier in the southern parts of the province and then we get more recovery in the northern boreal a little bit earlier in the year. So we are seeing that reprieve up in the north. We are still seeing dry conditions down in the south and most of the main parts of the province.
“When we see dry conditions like this, wildfires can ignite easily and they can spread quickly so we really encourage Albertans to be very diligent when they’re out in the forested areas.”
On Wednesday afternoon, just northeast of Edmonton, a large grassfire sparked and spread quickly due to the tinder dry conditions.
“With the wind and the dry conditions, the fire spread quite quickly,” said Dana Terry, deputy chief of operations support with Strathcona County Emergency Services. “And the wind changed directions several times on our crews and so that created a lot of issues because it kept expanding and when the crews would try to get it on one side, it would move to the other side.
“It was quite challenging for our crews. They worked really hard to try to ahead of it, but it was really challenging conditions.”
Terry said it’s believed there was working being done on the property — just west of Highway 21 and north of Township Road 540 — and a small engine ignited the fire. Anyone working in these conditions, or using off-high vehicles, is also encouraged to use extreme caution, and stop and check their vehicles for debris every so often.
“Grassfires tend to burn quickly and they pass very quickly, which creates some challenges for people to get out of the way because they can move faster than what can be anticipated,” Terry said.
“They don’t burn as intensely and as long as a forest fire, but they can cover a lot of ground very quickly.”
Craig Spicer is the superintendent at Legends Golf & Country Club, which is located just over the road from where the grassfire was burning Wednesday afternoon. He said he wasn’t at work at the time, but he was in close communication with his staff.
“I got concerned,” Spicer said. “I was ready to get down here and start watering and start getting the hoses ready and pumps ready.”
Spicer’s assistant and mechanic were at the course at the time and were speaking with fire crews, who said they had the blaze under control. But it was still a bit of an uneasy feeling for Spicer.
“Grassfires are bad, they can take off. So we were concerned. We were concerned about the trees, the facilities, the buildings that we have. But once we knew it was under control, you’re relieved that way,” he explained. “We knew the golf course was safe.”
Spicer said it’s been a struggle to keep the grass wet this year. It’s required a lot more water, wetting agents and staff power than in previous years.
“We have moisture meters that we use and if you want to keep your greens at, say, 13 per cent you’re running your overnights for just longer… your irrigation time is longer,” he said.
“In some areas, you’re down to two, three per cent and it’s rough and drier. We haven’t had dry cracking ground yet, but we’re lucky that we have lots of access to water that we won’t get there.”
While last year was similar to this year, Spicer said it’s much drier than two years ago.
“We had so much rain we spent more time pumping water off the golf course. So it was one extreme to another,” he explained. “I hope it rains soon… We had a light little rain on the weekend, but that wasn’t enough. The first superintendent I worked for told me never to curse the rain.”
For more information on the wildfire risk, and current fire advisories, restrictions and bans, visit the Alberta Wildfire website.