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Earlier this month, the Alberta Union of Public Employees (AUPE) raised concerns about issues in the government’s 2024 budget regarding preparations for next season, primarily because of their failure to address recruitment and retention of the Alberta Wildfire Team. question.
Last year, an unprecedented number of wildfires broke out in Alberta, burning a record-breaking 2.2 million hectares of land – ten times the average. This year, Alberta’s wildfire season begins on February 20, ten days earlier than before.
“The wildfires of 2023 are unprecedented, and we are now facing drought and rising temperatures, and we are effectively facing the onset of another catastrophe,” said James Gault, AUPE Vice President.
“If the government doesn’t want to do anything about this, then they will be responsible for any loss of life or any damage to property because they know full well that this is going to happen,” Gaut added.
According to the Government of Alberta’s 2024 budget, $151 million in operating expenses, $55 million in capital funding for new wildfire suppression equipment and facilities, and $19 million in capital funding to develop a new water strategic plan, $10 million in three-year capital fund to expand air and water monitoring to respond to extreme weather events including wildfires.
“We’ve invested more money. Of course, it’s not about adding more money, it’s about how the money is used,” Forestry and Parks Minister Todd Loewen said.
Minister Loewen said to date they have added 104 Category 1 firefighters on the ground and have extended firefighter contracts from 93 days to 123 days. As budgets increase, they will also hire more people. However, most of these new hires are seasonal and have little to no experience.
“Like other jurisdictions around the world, we hire seasonal firefighters when the fires are at their worst, and that’s what you need. There may be some who think we should hire people year-round rather than have them do it in the winter Anything,” Minister Loewen said.
Minister Loewen added that the Alberta Wildfire Corps currently has full-time firefighters fighting fires throughout the winter. But with 55 active wildfires currently in Alberta, 50 of which are remnants of last year, coupled with dry weather and low precipitation, Galt warned that this year’s situation may be worse than last year, so in It is important for Alberta to retain experienced firefighters.
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“What’s happening is we’re not keeping them after the season. That means we’re retraining. This year, our two-year-experienced crew led 20 rescuers and put out the most fires we’ve ever seen in our province or anywhere in Canada.” A serious fire,” Gault said.
With no incentive to stay, Alberta fails to retain experienced firefighters
Chris Yeremiy has been an Alberta wildland firefighter for nearly 10 years. During his tenure, Jeremiah was involved in the Rapattack program, where firefighters would put out smaller forest fires before they turned into larger wildfires.
Although the Rapattack program had support from wildland firefighters and municipalities including Fox Creek, Nordic and Crows Nest Pass, the program was discontinued in 2019 – according to Secretary Loewen, the Rapattack program was too costly and required more work than other firefighting missions. Danger.
But as the plan went into effect, firefighters and fire chiefs with years of experience disappeared, Jeremi said.
“If you destroy an entire program that’s been around for 30 to 35 years, that experience is lost. You have a huge brain drain, and you lose a lot of experience that you could teach all these young people. You basically It’s about starting over in Alberta,” Jeremiah said.
As wildfire season begins, Alberta Wildfire employs seasonal or contract firefighters, and Jeremiah said there is no effort to retain experienced firefighters.
“Alberta Wildfire’s thinking is that these seasonal employees are expendable. If they don’t come back next year, ‘Well, we’ll just take on more students or we’ll replace them — we just need the manpower,'” Jeremiah said.
Former Alberta wildland firefighter Brendan Hajdu highlights a lack of investment in wages and long-term career viability that contributes to recruitment and retention issues for the Alberta Wildfire Corps.
“The problem with retaining talent is huge. I think part of it is there’s not a lot of opportunity or incentive to stay. There’s no benefit, no off-season benefit. They can’t guarantee you’ll get a spot next season – no matter where you are. How long was it there,” Haju said.
Hajdu echoed Yeremiy’s experience.
“Not only do you lose a person — yes, the position will definitely be filled, but you also lose experience. When you lose these people who have four, five or six years of experience, you lose the firefighting world. Street smarts, right?” Hajdu said.
For returning wildland firefighters, this adds another layer of stress to the job.
“Our members are nervous. They’re scared. But it’s just one of those things you have to do – you have to protect Albertans. Fire teams led by inexperienced firefighters are going to disperse into communities at some point. That’s That’s where mistakes are made,” Galt said.
“It’s not the firefighters’ fault. It’s the government’s fault for not retaining people and letting them study and work as a group for years on end,” he added.
According to Galt and Jeremiah, wildland firefighters eventually move on to other opportunities that pay better — sometimes after only two seasons of service. For example, Hajdu left the Alberta Wildfires and took a job with Parks Canada.
“There’s no incentive to stay here. This is a stepping stone and Alberta is going to pay the price eventually,” Gaut said.
Alberta’s 2024 budget doesn’t address retention issues
Gault and Yeremiy criticized the government’s 2024 budget as Alberta’s pool of experienced firefighters continues to deplete. Although the wildland firefighting budget has been increased to $150 million, Gaut said that will not be used to support wildland firefighters. Instead, it is assigned to the new device.
“The province keeps talking about technology to put out wildfires, but ultimately technology doesn’t put out fires. Good judgment, hard work and good allocation of resources help control and put out fires,” Jeremi said.
The emergency fund was also increased to $2 billion, $900 million less than what was spent on drought and wildfire costs last year.
“They have these emergency funds to respond to situations. That’s my frustration. They’re trying to save money on the front end of the budget,” Jeremiah said.
In 2023, the province is on fire, and the Alberta wildfires alone are too much to bear. Firefighters across Canada and internationally were called in to tap emergency reserves.
“It’s a crazy expense to hoard resources from other provinces or the United States, and then we have to bring in firefighters from all over the world, which is a huge cost,” Jeremi said. “So the money is being spent in a reactive manner way out.”
Jeremi said instead of relying on emergency funds when wildfires get out of control, it’s better to invest in proactive measures. For example, firefighters are trained to put out or control smaller fires.
“We should be promoting our own staff, keeping them within our jurisdiction and training them as best we can to make the best decisions – which will save us money in the long run,” Jeremiah said. funds.”
We’d better be proactive in retaining the best firefighters and training them to make the best decisions. And that’s not what we’re facing right now in Alberta.
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