After one of Saskatchewan’s most intense wildfire seasons in recent memory. Forest mitigation crews are already back on the land across northern communities, working to reduce the risk of another year of large-scale evacuations.
The mitigation deployment was announced Thursday in a media release from the Prince Albert Grand Council.
The PAGC says about 100 workers are currently deployed on mitigation projects in its member communities, months before wildfire season typically reaches its peak.
In the media release Thursday, Prince Albert Grand Council said the early deployment reflects lessons learned from last year’s wildfire season, when several northern communities were forced into emergency evacuations.
“This work is about prevention, not reaction,” said Grand Chief Brian Hardlotte.
He said the crews working across PAGC territory are often overlooked despite playing a critical role in protecting homes and infrastructure.
“These crews are the unsung heroes of wildfire prevention.” Hardlotte said.
Mitigation crew members prepare chainsaws and equipment during a winter mitigation project focused on creating defensible space around communities.
Pierce Pellerin, Director of Forestry for the Prince Albert Grand Council, said the approach this year is deliberately proactive.
“We seriously and desperately need to start taking a more proactive approach rather than a response approach,” Pellerin said. “We need to start preparing for wildfire season a lot sooner than we have in recent years.”
Last year saw hundreds of fires burn across the province, with several northern communities forced to evacuate as extreme heat and dry conditions stretched firefighting resources. Military support was deployed at the height of the crisis, and thousands of residents were displaced at various points during the season.
Pellerin said mitigation work focuses on planned reductions of vegetation and hazardous fuels to lower fire intensity near communities.
“Forest mitigation is the planned reduction of vegetation or fuels in the forest,” he said. “By removing excess brush or trees and breaking up continuous fuels and ladder fuels, we can reduce the fire intensity, protect homes and infrastructure and lower the risk of wildfire within a community.”
Crews are expected to treat about 100 hectares this season through ground thinning and fuel management projects. While that figure may seem small compared to the size of some wildfires, Pellerin said strategic placement is what matters most.
“When it’s strategic in the placement of these hectares, it is really important for protecting the communities and creating a defensible space,” he said.
He added that many areas remain vulnerable heading into the new season.
“I would honestly say everywhere that wasn’t burnt last year is at high risk,” Pellerin said. “And even the areas that burnt this past year, if we don’t do proper recovery techniques and remove those dead fuels and hazardous trees, once that dries out, that becomes another extreme fire risk.”
Mitigation efforts also include FireSmart procedures such as thinning vegetation around homes, clearing combustible materials, and reducing the risk of embers igniting structures. According to Pellerin, many homes lost during wildfires ignite from wind-driven embers landing on roofs, decks, or other flammable surfaces.
“If we can reduce the number of embers landing on combustible materials, that’s a key thing we do with FireSmart,” he said.
During last year’s wildfire briefings, provincial officials repeatedly noted that a significant portion of fires were human-caused. Pellerin acknowledged mitigation crews cannot control where a fire starts, but said fuel reduction gives firefighters a better chance if a blaze approaches a treated area.
If a fire does reach the doorstep of a community and into those treatment areas, the work will give a fighting chance to firefighters to slow down that fire and hopefully protect the community,” he said.
Mitigation crews conduct controlled pile burning in winter conditions to remove fallen trees and reduce fuel loads before wildfire season.
He said education will also be part of this year’s prevention strategy, with fire safety presentations planned in PAGC communities in partnership with the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency.
Crews are carrying out the work in challenging winter conditions, often operating chainsaws and equipment in deep snow and extreme cold.
“It’s some of the hardest work that you can do,” Pellerin said. “You’re out in very hard terrain, sometimes in minus 50. A lot of people don’t even understand what kind of work these crews are doing in the forest.”
Forest mitigation crew leader Issac Custer said in the media release that much of the work happens quietly, long before smoke appears on the horizon.
“Our work doesn’t make headlines,” said Isaac Custer. “If we do our job right, the fire may never become a disaster.”
Pellerin said the long-term goal is simple.
“One of the major goals for us is to reduce evacuations for communities by being able to engage these fires and hopefully put them out before an evacuation may need to happen.”
arjun.pillai@paherald.sk.ca
Mitigation crews stand in a recently thinned forest area where strategic fuel reduction is aimed at slowing future wildfire spread.
PAGC mitigation workers pose with equipment during ongoing wildfire fuel mitigation operations across northern Saskatchewan.
PAGC forest mitigation crews work in deep snow conditions, thinning hazardous fuels near northern communities as part of early wildfire prevention efforts.
