Glenn McGillivray is managing director of the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction and adjunct professor of disaster and emergency management at York University.
This year’s wildfire season is already the most severe one this century, with 449 fires burning across Canada as of June 12, and roughly half of them deemed out of control. More than five million hectares have been scorched to date – almost 15 times the annual average amount of the last decade – and it’s only mid-June.
By all measures, from number of fires (including the number of out-of-control fires) and provinces affected to the area burned and the number of evacuees, records haven’t just been broken – they have been obliterated. And Canada’s system of sharing wildfire-fighting resources is being put to the test.
Many have commented how this is just a preview of what’s to come more often, as the effects from climate change continue to grow.
In Canada, it is the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) (pronounced SIFF-CEE) that works to co-ordinate the sharing and movement of provincial and territorial wildfire suppression resources to where they are needed most.
It also arranges for the use of out-of-country resources, both in terms of equipment and people. And while it most often looks south of the border for help, from time to time it needs to bring in boots on the ground from other places. This year, along with at least 600 “hot shots” and “smoke jumpers” and hardware from the U.S., CIFFC has brought in assistance from South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, France, Spain and, soon, Mexico.
In general, the system works well – although this year, it is strained.
In recent days, there has been a suggestion from several observers that Canada could use a fleet of federally owned air tankers (water bombers), which drop water or fire retardant from above. This fleet could be used as a reserve force for when things really hit the fan, and it’s an idea worth considering, particularly as Canada’s existing provincial fleet continues to age.
Canada’s 38 national parks and 10 national park reserves – most of them forested – cover almost 350,000 square kilometres. Yet, Parks Canada – the federal agency that is responsible for managing that land, including fires, does not own its own fleet of air attack hardware. Instead, allowing for the remote location of much of the land and considering the important role that fire plays in ecosystem health, many fires are left to run their course.
Parks Canada does have access to aerial attack hardware (namely helicopters), but this is through contracts with private companies.
The suggestion is that the federal government purchase its own air tankers (more specifically, water-scooping skimmers that scoop water and retardant aircraft, which are loaded on the ground) and house these within Parks Canada. These could be used in federal parks in lieu of contracts with private suppliers, but also be made available to the provinces and territories in times of crisis.
The suggestion is also that these aircraft, or at least some of them, be made available year-round to provide support to other countries, just as we are benefiting from international help during this present crisis. Currently, the provinces and territories tend to stow their fleets and have no access to crews in our off-season, when out-of-country demand is highest.
This system works quite well in Australia, where the National Aerial Firefighting Centre – the Aussie equivalent of CIFFC – has co-ordinated the procurement of a fleet of firefighting aircraft that are readily available to complement those owned and operated by state and territorial fire agencies.
The national fleet was funded by Australia’s federal, state and territorial governments, and the daily costs of operating the federal aircraft are paid for by whichever state or territory is using them at the time. The arrangement has been calculated to deliver $6.4-million in net benefits every year through procurement staff and service-provider cost savings.
Much of the inner workings of the Australian system can be implemented here, though the Aussies have chosen to house their fleet within a CIFFC-like organization. That is an option here, but industry advocates believe such hardware would best sit with Parks Canada.
In a year with fires raging across the country, the rare loss of a large number of homes in the east, and smoke blanketing Canadian and American urban centres while affecting millions of people (most of whom do not live anywhere near a forested area), we are being not-so-gently reminded that the future is now. Federal, provincial and territorial officials need to have urgent conversations about strengthening our firefighting capacities, and beefing up the strength of our air tanker fleets will be key.