A map from the Alberta Wildfire Status Dashboard showing wildfires near Edmonton. (Image From www.arcgis.com)

By Brendan Miller

Brooks and Newell firefighters dispatched to help battle blaze near Edson

May 8, 2023 | 4:54 PM

COUNTY OF NEWELL, AB – Volunteer firefighters from the County of Newell have been dispatched to assist crews fighting fires west of Edmonton.

Following a request from the province, five firefighters from Brooks and three from the County of Newell, as well as four firetrucks, left Saturday to help crews battle active fires near Edson.

All eight firefighters have gone through the National Fire Protection Association’s wildland firefighting course and are skilled in dealing with wildfires.

The firefighters will be rotated out on a weekly basis. On Saturday the county will send out replacements.

So far, the province has yet to request any manpower assistance from the Medicine Hat Fire & Emergency Services.

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However, the Medicine Hat department is working to fulfill a request to provide incident management personnel to the Drayton Valley area.

There are currently no fires burning around Medicine Hat currently. However, Merrick Brown, assistant chief of public safety with the Medicine Hat fire department, says the risk of fire in the region is currently high to extreme.

“We are definitely not where northern Alberta is right now given the fact that we did get some rain over the weekend so it’s not as bad as what it was but as we approach even the summer months where it does start to get a little dry and obviously it’s dry right now, basic things such as like using a fire pit safely and not disposing of cigarette butts just out on the ground that is one of the leading causes of quite a few of our fires,” says Brown.

Depending on local operations Medicine Hat fire says they are prepared to accept a request for manpower from the province if needed.