The wildfire season this year across Atlantic Canada is being called unprecedented by many fire officials in the region.
Halifax’s professional firefighters union said it has been sounding the alarm on the need to be better prepared long before this summer, calling out the lack of changes to address these scenarios.
“No new deployment policies, no protocols, no new hands-on training, we are futher behind because we have issues with the personaly protective equipement,” said Joe Triff, president of Atlantic Provinces Professional Firefighters.
Triff said progress is needed to ensure fires, like the one that hit Tantallon in 2023, don’t happen again. He said he believes this season’s wildfires have exposed that.
“We clung to the hope that we would learn lessons about that fire and do better next time, and Suzy Lake was an example of us not doing better,” Triff said.
Wildfires across the Atlantic provinces have raged to out-of-control levels as crews battle dozens of fires. Homes have been damaged, people have been evacuated and fire bans remain in place.
Triff points to poor management of off-duty firefighters. He also said the lack of critical urban interface training to manage where densely populated areas meet the woods is also another issue.
“These wildfires close to homes require a lot of people on the ground quickly and we’re not calling people in,” he said.
“We sent six members of the Halifax Regional Firefighters to New Brunswick, to become trainers in this training, and we have yet to see this get off the ground in Halifax.”
In New Brunswick, Fredericton’s fire chief said this training has paid dividends.
“We’re getting to the next level of preparedness and our ability to respond as we move from year to year. This was a significant year for us, because of that specialty training,” said Dwayne Killingbeck, Fredericton Fire Chief.
Killingbeck said more crew members will be learning these skills in the future.
“Some of our key members that are really experienced in this type of firefighting are leading the way for us. And we are going to be training all of our staff to get more and more comfortable with interface fires,” he said.
Meanwhile, Saint John Fire said there is always more officials can do in educating the public on prevention.
“That’s the number one thing that all fire departments can do is to educate the public and make sure that we are making wise decisions to protect our environment,” said Rob Nichol, Saint John Fire Chief.