Province ramping up preparation for wildfire season
Hard to predict this year’s severity, minister of natural resources says
New Brunswickers are being urged to take action to protect themselves and their property ahead of this year's wildfire season, which begins later this month.
The province is launching FireSmart N.B., part of the nationwide FireSmart Canada program, which was started in 1993.
"Last year, we were fortunate not to have what we might call a bad day," said Natural Resources Minister John Herron at a news conference Tuesday.
In 2023, about 500 hectares burned in the Stein Lake fire, which began on May 28 after an ATV caught fire in the woods near Chamcook and Bocabec. Along with evacuation orders for the area, the public was also asked to stay out of the woods across the province.
The humidity New Brunswick sees in the summer does help mitigate the risk, Herron said, but doesn't eliminate it.
"But to be clear, one day, one bad day in the firefighting world can ignite a catastrophic series of events as we have seen across the country and around the world."
Herron said much of the province's forests are young and there's less underbrush available to provide fuel.
"There are some advantages in terms of ... our forest practices that do mitigate the same level of risk from a fuel perspective," he said.
Officials said the most important thing people can do is protect their homes. The Firesmart N.B. website includes tips and information for homeowners on how to do just that, including advice on clearing up yard waste around your home that could fuel a fire, and details on which plants are more flammable than others. There are also tips about making your home and property more fire-resistant.
Roger Collet, the province's wildfire prevention specialist, said the launch of FireSmart N.B. is part of $40 million in federal funding being used to make New Brunswick better prepared.
And there are also some new firefighting tools.
"We have several pieces of equipment that we've been purchasing or moving forward," Collet said.
The new equipment includes new pumps and drones to spot hotspots as well as trailers filled with equipment that local fire departments can access in case of wildfires.
Tony Cole, a fire operations supervisor, displayed one of the drones used to detect hotspots.
The technology flies over a wildfire at night and creates a digital map showing where the fire is active so firefighters will know where to attack.
"So it increases firefighter efficiency on the ground to put out hotspots," Cole said.
The drones will also be used to fly over communities to collect data showing where fuel sources for fires exist and how these can be diminished.
"We're going to also use this to help with FireSmart to get a bird's eye view to help with mitigation processes as well for communities that are at risk," he said.
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