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Municipal District of Acadia residents still looking for answers following wildfire disaster.

Oct 27, 2017 | 6:41 PM

Acadia Valley, AB. – Over 100 residents of the Municipal District of Acadia gathered on Thursday evening in Acadia Valley Community Hall for a public debrief by the county Chief Administrative Officer Brent Williams and Fire Chief for the MD Acadia Valley, Roger Didychuk.

They offered more information regarding the wildfire that burned over 12,000 acres of land on the evening of Tuesday October 17th.

Rancher Dal Howe said the wildfire has devastated his Black Angus ranching operation.

“There is about 2500 acres of native grass that was burnt, 8.5 miles of fence lost. 3 cows, 2 calves, I had to put down one cow and one calf that were still alive after the fire. The other 135 head of cows and calves are very stressed. I’ve been treating calves that are very sick, every day since the fire,” he said.

Howe estimates he has suffered over $150,000 in damages and it could still be climbing as he worries about his herds health.

“I am really scared of the cows aborting from extreme smoke inhalation, it usually takes 1-3 months to see signs of whether those cows are going to lose their calves. I don’t know if I can sell my 130 calves, I don’t know if any buyers will take them because they’ve suffered smoke inhalation and are extremely sick, I could be up to half a million dollars quite quickly,” he explained.

Other landowners at the debrief shared similar losses as Howe said Williams. He has been advocating on behalf of residents in the Municipal District of Acadia but he said insurance will not cover everyone’s losses from the fire.

“As people know with insurance, it is never very clear cut. For example people have insured their granaries but the insurance companies are saying the grain [inside] wasn’t insured, just the granary itself.

Same goes with your vehicle, whatever was in the cab of your vehicle is insured but [not] what burnt in the back. You had to have contents insurance for the back and then we are dealing with cases where people don’t have insurance at all,” he said.

Williams said they have had reports of over a million dollars in damage from private citizens in the county, and the number is continuing to climb. He went on to add that there was also damage to public infrastructure from the fire, including roadways and culverts, the cost is not yet known.

The Municipal District of Acadia has confirmed a probable cause for what started the devastating fire said Williams.

“A transmission pole snapped in two and ignited by ATCO Electric, our local provider. We invited them here tonight to speak but they politely declined. There investigation is still ongoing. I have confirmed with them that it is the origin of the fire,” he explained.

It is not clear yet if ATCO Electric will be offering any compensation to affected landowners.

“It’s really tough to stay, we are not to familiar with how any liability and insurance might work for a utility company like ATCO, in Alberta’s very deregulated energy market no one can quite tell me that answer,” he said.

The provincial and federal governments have not stepped forward to offer ranchers any disaster assistance.

“Premier Notely has given a statement recently regarding the fires throughout Southern Alberta and about being open to some aid package for land owners,” said Williams.

Howe hopes that ranchers in Southern Alberta will be offered an aid program similar to BC’s ranchers who were devastated by the wildfires this past summer.

“They’re doing an Ag Recovery and it looks like it’s a pretty good program. That’s with provincial and federal and it looks like they’re covering 70 % of the costs that are lost. That’s what I am really pushing and I am hoping that the government will see that this is a disaster,” he explained.

Fire Chief Roger Didychuk, confirms that all the hot spots in the area from the October 17th wildfire are out. He cautions that the conditions in the area could be favourable for another fire.

“Very dry, we’re extremely dry. We’ve had no moisture, the chances of another fire happening is very high,” he warns.

He advises people be aware of their surroundings and take precautions.

“Watch your area for power lines, no open flames, no cigarettes, no control burns, watch your exhaust for vehicles,” he explained.