SUNDRE – The Town of Sundre has applied for a grant that would provide funding to develop a fire management plan outlining recommendations to protect vital infrastructure.
“Where this kind of initiated from, is we have a water treatment plant at the top of a heavily wooded area with a single access point in and out,” said Chris Albert, the town's director of corporate services, referring to Snake Hill.
“There is some debris up in that area that does need to be cleaned up,” said Albert, who was acting chief administrative officer on Feb. 10 during a regular council meeting.
Additionally, he said there is the question of whether a second access point would be advisable and if it would “be beneficial to have a sprinkler system put on the water treatment plant” or other vital infrastructure such as the sewage lagoon.
However, such steps are much farther down the road and would first require conducting a risk assessment to identify the need to install such protective measures.
The grant administration recommended applying for through the Forest Resource Improvement Association of Alberta would cover the cost of developing a wildfire management plan for the municipality, he said.
Implementing any recommendations that arise would mitigate the risk of a wildfire and substantially increase the community’s preparedness and awareness. If the grant application is not approved, the decision to proceed with developing a plan would require further discussions between the chief administrative officer and the Sundre Fire Department’s chief to estimate a cost for council to consider, he said.
Coun. Owen Petersen, who moved the recommended action, said residents have also expressed concerns what with Sundre’s abundance of green spaces and potential fire hazards.
Speaking in favour of the motion, Coun. Todd Dalke asked if a previous emergency preparedness plan from 2016 that included the risk of wildfire would be factored in.
Albert said administration has the report from 2016 that had also been developed through grant funding and ultimately recommended raising public awareness on employing FireSmart measures to reduce the risk on their own properties as well as pursuing efforts to clean up debris on Snake Hill.
“A lot of those recommendations were actioned,” said Albert.
“This is kind of a continuation of that; it’s been 10 years since that report was published,” he said.
In light of major wildfires since then – from Fort McMurray to Jasper and even California – new recommendations have emerged and an updated report was deemed worthwhile, he said.
“Seems like an opportune time to get that done.”
Mayor Richard Warnock recalled past challenges with Fisheries and Oceans Canada when the municipality sought to clean up the Red Deer River’s banks within the town’s boundaries.
“They were willing to lower standards for Snake Hill, but not the river,” said Warnock, suggesting that when the time comes, council should be prepared to put up a bigger fight to fire smart the river’s banks.
The mayor also asked if given the circumstances, there might be many other municipalities applying for the same grant with only so much funding to make the rounds.
But Albert seemed optimistic about the odds.
“With recent occurrences, I think the province will put enough money into (the grant program) that it won’t be oversubscribed,” he said. “They don’t want to turn people away.”
Petersen asked what course of action might come next in the event the town does not receive the grant.
“If we don’t get the grant, it will be a conversation with the fire chief, the CAO, figuring out how much it would cost us and bringing that as a separate motion,” said Albert, adding it would then come to down to council to determine if the cost to proceed with preparing the report is acceptable.
The mayor said protecting critical infrastructure “has to be priority one” and that the last plan dealt primarily with the risk to residential areas and green space like Snake Hill.
The motion passed unanimously with councillors Connie Anderson and Chris Vardas not present on excused absences.
Responding to a follow-up question about the value of the grant, the director of corporate services told the 51黑料 the amount for the town was seeking through the grant was not immediately available.
“Our engineering partners are working on estimating the cost of the work we want done. It is possible that the grant approval will be for only a portion of the request, and if that occurs we will determine next steps and advise council.”
