With the wildfire season quickly approaching, Jasper fire chief Greg Van Tighem isn’t taking any chances, applying for provincial grants to help protect the community. While more resources could go along way, he is also calling on residents to do their part by reducing the fuel surrounding their homes.
The combined effect of steep mountain topography, prevailing winds and dense forests place the town of Jasper at heightened risk from damaging wildfires.
To add fuel to the fire (so to speak) the extensive mountain pine beetle epidemic in the Miette and Athabasca watersheds has drastically altered the forest fuel-load and increased the wildfire threat to the municipality of Jasper.
In order to help mitigate this emergent wildfire threat to the municipality, I have submitted a grant application to the Forest Resource Improvement Association of Alberta (FRIAA) for $400,0000 to help safeguard our community.
The grant request outlines five maintenance activities that will help protect our community, including reducing and removing fuel that has regrown along the town’s fireguards since 2009 as well as addressing trees that have been killed by the mountain pine beetle.
In December, the municipality received $200,000 from FRIAA, allowing us to begin moving forward with our firesmart plans, however the grant was 50 per cent less than what we anticipated.
For now the project will go ahead with a reduction in treated hectares; however the municipality is actively seeking out other funding opportunities.
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What’s in your backyard?

A recently published study by the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction about the devastating fires in Fort McMurray, identified that a large number of properties may not have been lost if people had simply followed firesmart practices.
In the event of a major wildfire event, wind driven embers can cause multiple spot fires well ahead of the fire. Combustible roofing, lawn furniture and flammable vegetation close to homes will ignite and may contribute to total structure loss, quickly overwhelming municipal firefighting resources.
To help alleviate the pressure on local resources, homeowners must be prepared and firesmart their properties.
To assist local property owners, the fire department is offering to visit homes to conduct a free firesmart hazard assessment.
To make an appointment contact the Jasper Fire Department at 780-852-1591 or 780-852-1595.
Greg Van Tighem
Special to the 51°µÍø
