AUPE says Alberta is under-prepared for wildfire season

The union representing wildland firefighters in Alberta is raising concerns about how prepared the province really is for a wildfire season they say is shaping up to be worse than last year, despite the recent rainfall.

The union claims more than half of last year’s firefighters did not return to the job this year.

“We have inexperienced people. We do have experience, 50 per cent came back, but we do have inexperience. And with that there are now going to be leading crews of inexperienced people into some of these wildfires,” explained James Gault, vice president of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE).

“So our concern is that it’s inexperienced, we’re not retaining and it’s just going to be a really bad year this year and we’re just not prepared for.”

Despite declaring an early start to the wildfire season, the province is not yet fully staffed or trained. In a statement from the Minister of Forestry and Parks office, they say the province has currently hired 92 per cent of seasonal wildland firefighters and expects to be fully staffed by May 15th.

“We also had significant crews, heavy equipment, helicopters and air tankers available for fighting wildfires in April,” read the statement. “Last year, 57 per cent of our seasonal government wildland firefighters were returning staff, and we looked for opportunities this wildfire season to ensure easier re-hiring, such as through early letters of intent to hire, which provides our seasonal staff with the security that a job is waiting for them.

“With the recent announcement of 30 new full time forest officer positions, some of our long-term seasonal staff also have the opportunity to work for us full time. We’ve also sped up the process of hiring and training new recruits, which ensures we have a full complement of wildland firefighters when required. We’re working hard to make sure we keep qualified and experienced personnel here in Alberta. “

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However, Gault says, “If we are not retaining, then we’re retraining people constantly. That is a cost to the government. That’s a cost for taxpayers to continue to retrain.”

Union leaders say firefighters are needed to effectively fight fires on the scale we saw last year, but without competitive wages and benefits, people won’t do the dangerous work of fighting fires.

“So the starting wage here is $22 an hour, just a little bit over $22. Parks Canada pays $29 an hour, B.C. pays more, and then even just recently we have Ontario that just has given pre-cancer coverage to wildland firefighters, which we don’t have either. So when people are coming here, there are a lot of students that come here. And so this is an experience for them, but then they go somewhere that pays better, and respects them a little bit more and offers a more of a permanent role.”

The province says they are looking at ways to ensure easier re-hiring for next season — such as early letters of intent to hire — which provides seasonal staff the security that a job is waiting for them.