‘It’s a high priority in our government,’ says forestry minister of wildfires

Forestry Minister Todd Loewen speaks with Alberta Primetime host Michael Higgins about Alberta lending assistance in battling wildfires in California and our up

Michael Higgins: Let’s look to that situation south of the border. What degree of support does Alberta now have on the ground there?

Todd Loewen: We do have 40 of our Type 1 wildfire firefighters on the ground in California right now. They arrived there yesterday, they were deployed today, and so they’ve been briefed up and had their initial meetings and they’re out on the landscape right now.

We have those 40, plus we have two department officials along and the spirits are good. I talked to the crews while they were on the way down; they were excited to get there and help out. When we needed help in 2023, CAL FIRE (California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection) was there and we’re more than happy to be there in California helping now.

MH: Are there further resources already in the pipeline? What more are you prepared to offer?

TL: So we have our water bombers that we’re preparing to be ready to make sure that if CAL FIRE asked for them, that we have them ready to go. We reached out to our contracted night vision helicopters to make sure that they’re ready in case California asked for them, too.

So we’re making sure that we have preparations for equipment, but also more personnel if requested, too.

MH: You made the point a moment ago, that there’s a reciprocal element to this, given that California has provided support to Alberta in the past.

With what you’re providing now, how’s that degree of support playing with your American counterparts at a time when there’s so much uncertainty around relations with the incoming Trump administration and that threat of tariffs?

TL: We want to make sure that the U.S. understands that they’re an important partner of ours, not just economically, but when it comes to fighting wildfires too.

So again, we’re not playing politics with this at all. This is purely about helping out when they’re in need and because we know they were there to help us out, we’re more than happy to do this.

MH: What strikes you most about that situation in California? Are there comparisons that really hit home?

TL: The devastation to communities and to people’s homes is the part that hits home the most. But kind of looking at the differences, they were experiencing some 90 m/h winds and today, we’re dealing with 90 km/h winds. That’s a lot of wind.

I can’t imagine fighting a wildfire 90 m/h winds, either on the ground or in the air. It’s got to be a challenge and a fire in those conditions has to be moving so fast, it’s incredible.

MH: Jasper is obviously still front of mind for many Albertans. How free and clear is that community from further wildfire danger as the next season approaches?

TL: We’re still concerned, and I know the residents of Jasper are still concerned about the area to the west of Jasper, so we’ve been encouraging Parks Canada to be working on that area there, to make sure that we keep that community protected.

That fire came in from the south, which was probably less expected, more expected to come from the west, because that’s where the prevailing winds are. We are concerned about Jasper, and we know the residents are, too, and we want to make sure that we do whatever we can to protect Jasper, to make sure that they don’t have to go through that again.

MH: There’s a lot of attention in our province right now around the building of fire guards. How does that fit into this year’s preparations for wildfire season?

TL: It’s a big part of it. We do our normal preparations each year, hiring our firefighters, and getting our equipment and crews ready and trained up and everything.

But when it comes to communities, we want to make sure we have the community fire guard program. We want to make sure that we’re exercising that and using that to its fullest ability. It does take time and there’s a lot more work to do.

We have the work going on right now in Canmore. We have more work being planned in Hinton and Whitecourt and again, there’s a lot of work to be done there. We’re focused on that. We want to make sure that we do everything we can to protect those communities.

MH: It’s hard to escape the fact that the word deficit is coming up in regards to provincial finances, talk of cutbacks here and there. What kind of budget do you expect to have at hand in dealing with this year’s wildfire season? Will there be sufficient dollars?

TL: I think there will be. I can’t presuppose what the legislature decides when it comes to budget time, or presuppose what the finance minister hasn’t planned, but I know it’s a high priority in our government to make sure that we protect lives and livelihoods and communities and people’s homes. So I feel pretty confident that we’ll have the resources that we need.

We’ve seen the increase in spending this last year, and the increase in the contingency budget, and so I expect that we’re going to be in a good position this year. As far as finances, we know wildfire is going to take place, we know we’re going to be battling it at some point during the summer, but we know that we have the support of the Alberta government behind us as far as getting that work done and being funded to make sure it happens.

MH: Your government is bolstering security and patrols at the U.S. border in response to some of those concerns raised by Donald Trump. Does that commitment draw at all from resources previously dedicated to wildfire efforts?

TL: No, not at all. That will be completely separate. Our wildfire crews and our Alberta Wildfire, they’ll be focused on wildfire in the province of Alberta, and if there’s an opportunity, if we have less wildfires than expected, then we will share our resources again.

MH: No use of the contracting of helicopters and infrared efforts in that regard?

TL: No. I think we’re in good shape there. We have our contracts, we have a priority when it comes to wildfire, for protecting lives and livelihoods and homes.

So we have those resources available to do that. Most of those resources, like with helicopters and our infrared and drones and things like that, are contracted out. So we don’t have any personal helicopters of the Alberta government or personal drones of the Alberta government use for that. But we do have contractors that we use, that provide that service to us.

MH: What kind of sense do you have for the kind of wildfire season that we might face in Alberta this year?

TL: It’s really anybody’s guess at this point. We know we’ve got a fair amount of moisture in some parts of Alberta, so we’re looking good in some parts going into the fire season.

May is always a critical month, because the snow has melted and the leaves haven’t came out on the trees, it isn’t greened up yet. So that’s always a critical time that we can never really predict what’s going to happen.

In May, and then as the summer progresses, we could have some hot, dry spells that could increase fire activity. But again, I think going into this fire season, we’ve definitely had more moisture on the landscape in certain parts of Alberta than we had last year.