The firefighting efforts are continuing during the Jasper wildfire emergency.
According to a Facebook post, the Town of Olds Fire Department was one of many in the province that received an urgent request for assistance to help.
As a result, a handful of firefighters from Olds have volunteered to join in the efforts and headed to Jasper to “provide aid and support to their fellow firefighters and the affected community”.
When they evaluated the local conditions and the resources they had available, Justin Andrew – Fire Chief and Director of Protective Services with the Town of Olds – says it was determined they could send a pumper truck along with four firefighters from Olds without diminishing their response locally. He says “they departed Olds at 8:30 in the evening and they are working on the ground in the community of Jasper this morning, currently. We are aware of the situation in the west country, in the M.D. of Bighorn west of Water Valley, obviously those conditions are of concern to us locally. So we are in communication through the Mountain View County Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) that is partnering with the M.D. of Bighorn, monitoring that situation and making sure that we do have rapid resources ready to be deployed if that fire activity starts to spread into the Mountain View County region.”
At this point, Andrew says the OFD’s commitment to the Emergency Management Agency was that they would keep that resource in place until Saturday (July 27th). He adds, they can re-evaluate whether that asset will stay longer, if required. According to Andrew, the provision they did put in place with their response was that if conditions changed locally, they do have the ability to recall that unit to meet their needs here.
The Carstairs Fire Department also stated in a Facebook post that it has sent equipment and 3 of its members to Jasper and they were joined by one member from the Didsbury Fire Department.
Meanwhile, a fire ban is currently in effect in Mountain View County. All outdoor fires must cease, except household fireplaces, BBQs, and AER flaring. Propane appliances are allowed with caution, but fire and fireworks permits are canceled.
More details are available on the website mountainviewcounty.com.