Garth Wallbridge has worn a number of different hats in his life. Now, he's driving a number of different vehicles. That includes a fire truck he bought a few months ago.
A full-service fire truck is parked outside the retired lawyer's house at Pontoon Lake. He said he spends most of his free time now fire-smarting the area around a cabin he owns.
He wishes the city would do the same when it comes to expanding the fire guards around Yellowknife.
"I think the city, quite frankly, thinks there's no fire on our doorstep, so they're not doing anything," he said. "I realize it costs money and I realize it takes effort. But in my mind, the city breathed a big sigh of relief when it was over [last summer] and thinks, perhaps, they just don't need to do anything until fires start here again, but I think they should be doing lots in the meantime.
There is an after-action review on how the municipality handled last year's wildfire evacuation. The city created a one-time allocation of $100,000 to act on the report's recommendations, much of which has already been spent.
Acting city manager Sheila Bassi-Kellett said during a July council meeting that the emergency operations centre has consumed around $22,000 while the development of the city's evacuation plan has accounted for close to $70,000.
Yellowknife is also projected to deal with a $40-million deficit next year, with a lot of that money going towards capital projects, such as renovating city hall.
Wallbridge, a former fire crew member who fought forest fires for two years in Manitoba 40 years ago, thinks the funds could be better spent.
"Until it's burned to the ground, I don't think we need a new city hall," he said.
He added that the municipal government's top priority should be getting people clean drinking water. So, when it comes to paying for a submarine water line SA国际影视传媒攁nother contributor to the budgetary shortfall SA国际影视传媒� he can accept that. Wallbridge said he's not sure what the second priority is, but he suggested that wildfire protection should rank near the top.
One thing Wallbridge has been keeping an eye on is what's going in Jasper National Park, which has had 30 per cent of its area destroyed by wildfire, according to Parks Canada. He said he sees a similar future for the NWT.
"We came so very close to losing our city last year," he said. "There were three major fires encroaching upon Yellowknife and they had been for many days at that point. What happened in Jasper was two fires joined together and the town was half-lost. If two fires joined together here, (there's a) pretty good chance Yellowknife could have been lost."
City Fire Chief Nelson Johnson pointed out that a nearly 32-km radius of fire breaks was put in place last year. However, it's currently hard to say whether the city will expand on that, he acknowledged. The new wildfire community plan from the Department of Environment and Climate Change is expected to be released soon and that report will give the Yellowknife Fire Division a better sense of its priorities in terms of fire-smarting the city, Johnson said.
He also mentioned the city has hired a contractor to shred dead trees to make mulch, which will be used in several ways. It also helps eliminate the risk of having a dead tree be effectively used as fuel for a fire, he added.
While Wallbridge's fire truck purchase sounds like a bit of fun, it could still come in handy. Because he lives outside of Yellowknife's corporate limits, the city wouldn't send a fire truck if he, or anyone in his position, needed one. That responsibility lies on the GNWT and the individual, he said.
Johnson said the GNWT does not own any fire trucks and that taking personal responsibility to fire-smart one's property goes a long way. Whether it's FireSmart Canada or the GNWT, there are programs that will send someone out to people's property to asses and recommend what can be done to reduce the risk of fire.
"It's up to you to put the work in and decide on the best way and what's affordable to make your property fire-smart," said the fire chief.
Johnson added that fire-smarting the city is an ongoing process. He said he's confident with what they're doing now, adding they're looking to do more public education and staff training.
"A fire-smart program takes a community to make a community safe," he said.
