Western Standard - April 29, 2024


Wildfire Preparedness In Alberta： 67% of Wildfires Caused by People


Episode Stats


Length

3 minutes

Words per minute

147.24463

Word count

505

Sentence count

24


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Learn English with Honourable Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Jason Kenney. In this episode, Honourable Kenney highlights Alberta's Budget 2024, which includes $14 million allocated to the Community Fire Guard Program, a program administered by the Forest Resource Improvement Association of Alberta (FRIA), also known as FRIA.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
00:00:00.000 As I've mentioned previously, Budget 2024 provides funding to hire 100 additional government wildland firefighters,
00:00:07.320 five new contract wildland firefighter crews, and more seasonal support staff than we had during the 2023 wildfire season.
00:00:15.020 I cannot overstate how instrumental these personnel are to keeping our province safe.
00:00:19.960 The addition of these firefighters and support staff will increase our capacity to effectively respond to multiple wildfires across our landscape.
00:00:27.040 And they will also allow us to continue engaging in enhanced night operations, a tactic we piloted during the 2023 wildfire season.
00:00:36.760 This investment in personnel means we can keep both crews and communities safe this wildfire season.
00:00:42.140 However, crews are only part of the equation.
00:00:45.120 These brave men and women need appropriate resources and equipment to mount an effective wildfire response.
00:00:50.780 That's why I'm excited to highlight further investments from Budget 2024 that will enhance our province's wildfire prevention, preparedness, and response.
00:00:59.820 Through Budget 2024, we have secured contracts for two additional air tanker groups,
00:01:04.720 two new night vision-equipped helicopters, of which one you can see behind us here,
00:01:09.300 and we have also invested in additional funds into the Community Fire Guard program
00:01:13.360 administered by the Forest Resource Improvement Association of Alberta, also known as FRIA.
00:01:18.520 These investments will result in significant improvements to our wildfire operations,
00:01:24.380 allowing us to better protect Alberta's communities and forests from the impacts of wildfire.
00:01:29.520 Our enhanced night operations will benefit from these Budget 2024 investments.
00:01:34.600 During the 2023 wildfire season, Alberta Wildfire Pilot piloted several programs,
00:01:39.880 one of which included wildland firefighters and personnel working extended hours to combat wildfires.
00:01:45.420 Fire behavior is typically more subdued at night, as temperatures are usually lower and humidity is higher.
00:01:52.820 The addition of two night vision-equipped helicopters will allow us to carry out an increased number of nighttime helitanking operations,
00:01:59.940 which is just one of the ways we're working smarter this wildfire season.
00:02:04.720 However, Alberta's government also understands that our response to active wildfires
00:02:08.800 must be supported by other proactive measures, such as fire breaks and guards.
00:02:14.220 That's why I'm excited to highlight the additional $14 million being allocated to the Community Fire Guard program.
00:02:20.640 FRIA has reported incredibly high interest in the program,
00:02:24.340 signaling that Albertans are eagerly preparing for their communities this wildfire season,
00:02:30.760 and Alberta's government wants to support that desire for preventative action.
00:02:35.980 Communities interested in making fire guard construction a part of their prevention and mitigation strategy
00:02:40.480 are encouraged to contact FRIA for more information.
00:02:44.020 Budget 2024 directly invests in our province's wildfire prevention, preparedness and response,
00:02:49.320 but we must remember that protecting our forests and communities is a shared responsibility.
00:02:53.780 Every Albertan must do their part by maintaining awareness of current wildfire risk levels,
00:02:59.560 staying up to date on fire bans, advisories and restrictions,
00:03:03.180 and above all, exercising extreme caution when spending time outdoors.
00:03:08.060 So far in 2024, nearly all wildfires burning on our landscape have been human-caused.
00:03:14.300 As we head further into this wildfire season, please don't be that person.
00:03:23.780 Thank you.
00:03:24.780 Thank you.