Premier Smith visits areas in the Peace hit by wildfires

The Dunes West area and Sturgeon Lake were among the places Smith went to.

“(I) visited the Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation and saw the devastation there …. and the number of structures that have been damaged and obliterated really.”

“We know in talking with Chief (Sheldon) Sunshine that we are going to have quite a bit of repair work to do there. They are already well underway with their conversations and their planning.”

Smith says the province would assist Sturgeon Lake, Fox Lake and East Prairie Metis Settlement in rebuilding.

She adds Sturgeon Lake lost 36 homes, plus its elder’s centre and town council chambers.

“They’ve gone through in a very deliberate way, making phone calls to every person who faces that loss, and took several hours with each of them because there is a lot of family history in each of those properties,”

Local officials said previously that four homes burned in the Dunes West fire. Fourteen homes in East Prairie and 100 in Fox Lake have also been destroyed.

Smith anticipates fire insurance would cover losses of privately-owned homes in most cases, adding it is “pretty sobering” to see how fast a fire can move and the damage it can cause.

She adds they are working with local officials on having a telephone town hall meeting this weekend.

“To talk about what evacuation preparedness looks like.”

“I think, in northern Alberta when we look at the fire map, there are a lot of communities that are feeling a bit unsettled. Almost every person I talk to says ‘Oh, I wish I had more information beforehand.’ So, we’re going to take a proactive approach in having a town hall just based on the experience that we’ve seen from other evacuated communities.”

Smith says it is easier to evacuate than it is to do re-entry, adding it is going to be a tough fire season and we are only at the beginning. She wants other communities that could be impacted to be prepared.

Smith adds there is a lot of “unease” for firefighters heading into the weekend with the hot weather that is in the forecast.

“There also has been a lot of proactive work being done to build the fireguards. That allows for the fire to be contained.”

Smith says it is important to pay attention to alerts, to be prepared, and to not overreact or underreact.

While she was here, Smith was asked about the Rapattack unit that was cut in 2019.

“I did talk to officials about that and one of the things that they observed is that we can get a larger number of firefighters when we just have our regular units.”

“That rappel team, as I understand it, had not deployed very often over the last number of years. We know that we need to have those ground unit crews.”

Smith says the province does need to determine what she calls “a baseline number” of firefighters and how private-sector firefighters can work with provincial ones.

She adds the province has asked for over 1000 additional firefighters to come to Alberta from other jurisdictions.

by Curtis Galbraith

Premier Smith visits areas in the Peace hit by wildfires

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