Wildfires increase calls for national firefighting service

The yearly occurrence of large-scale wildfires in Canada has prompted calls for a national fire service. Genevieve Beauchemin on the idea's potential.

An inflamed wildfire season is fuelling renewed calls for Canada to set up a new national approach to fight what has become a dreaded yearly occurrence, and some proponents say it could be set up within weeks.

“We would be the only G7 country still without a national fire administration,” Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs secretary Paul Boissoneault said. “We have provided the government with a turnkey proposal to have a national fire administration up and running by the G7 meeting.”

That meeting is now less than two weeks away in Kananaskis, Alta.

For years, calls for a national fire service to battle Canada’s wildfires have echoed across the country. As of now, provinces and territories have mutual sharing agreements.

Sixty Quebec wildland firefighters landed in Manitoba for a 14-day mission to lend a hand as the wildfire season rages in the west. Quebec has also dispatched firebombers and fire management experts to Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan.

“All that, because it has been a quieter than average fire season in Quebec so far,” said Melanie Morin, spokesperson for SOPFEU, the province’s agency in charge of fighting wildfires.

The extra help came too late for the northern Saskatchewan community of Denare Beach. Several homes have been reduced to ash and rubble, including the one belonging to Kari Lentowicz.

“Where was our help?” asked Lentowicz. “We need to have boots on the ground, to have resources pre-determined before disasters happen, so we know who is coming in to help.”

Thompson Rivers University Professor Mike Flannigan has been calling for a national fire service to be put into place for nearly a decade.

“We are talking about a quick deploy, well-trained group of firefighters that can be moved proactively,” said Flannigan. “When you ask for additional help from another province, it takes on average three days for that firefighter, that helicopter, that water bomber to get to the fire. Sometimes that is three days too late.”

Others agree a new approach is necessary, but point specifically to a national fire administration.

“It would basically be that intersection of information, policy and resources being spread across nationally and ensuring that we have the people making the right decisions at the right time in place with the right resources,” said Boissoneault.

Eleanor Olszewski, office of the Minister of Emergency Management, told CTV News in a statement that the top priority for the moment is to respond to the immediate wildfire threat.

“At the same time, this is a new government, and we are taking a comprehensive look at how to strengthen Canada’s response to wildfires and other emergencies,” the statement continued. “The Minister is prepared to consider any measure that enhances public safety.”

Flannigan says critics have issued concerns about issues with jurisdiction, fighting wildfires is a provincial responsibility, and about the high cost of setting up a new approach. But he says Canada can’t afford not to act in the face of the mounting threat of wildfires.

“If it avoids one disaster. One Jasper, one Lytton it will be worth it,” says Flannigan referring to devastating wildfires in Alberta and B.C. “And unfortunately, there will be more in the future unless we change the way we do business.”