Enterprise suffered around 90 per cent damage due to the massive wildfire that swept through the community in August.
The MLA who represents the community wants to know why the catastrophe occurred and what could have been done to prevent that amount of damage.
Deh Cho MLA Ron Bonnetrouge asked questions on behalf of his Enterprise constituents when the legislative assembly resumed sitting on Wednesday afternoon. He started by asking Shane Thompson, the minister responsible for Environment and Climate Change (ECC), how things got out of hand.
“The wildfire in Enterprise was burning prior to the devastating day of Aug. 13,” Bonnetrouge said. “Can the minister apprise the house as to why the wildfire in the hamlet of Enterprise was allowed to burn out of control for several days prior to the devastation and the evacuation of the residents?”
Thompson replied that the wildfire was being fought several days beforehand.
“The fire was initially identified on Aug. 2 with an initial attack within two hours,” he said. “Within two hours, the fire grew from three hectares to 120 hectares with extreme weather conditions that included very strong winds.”
Thompson added that the blaze was being fought by crews on the ground and in the air as conditions allowed.
“The extreme conditions and extreme fire behaviour made fighting the fire very challenging,” he said.
In a follow-up question to Thompson, Bonnetrouge said he was confused because ECC and those managing the fire had the tools and information at their fingertips to determine wind speed.
“Yet, those systems seemed to have failed on that day, or just prior to that day,” he said. “Can the minister apprise the house as to why these factors and tools were not taken into account?”
Thompson reiterated that the fire was being attacked as soon as it was spotted on Aug. 2 and what happened on Aug. 13 was because of environmental conditions.
“Wind gusted higher than forecast in an area that already had severe drought and burning conditions,” he said. “Our team worked with the best information available from the beginning of this fire and used the tools and approaches available to us.”
Bonnetrouge then asked Thompson about the apparent lack of fire crews on the ground to try and fight the flames.
“I understand other wildfires in other communities were happening at the same time and that fire attack crews may have been spread out,” he said. “Can the minister apprise the house why no fire attack crews were at Enterprise, although the fire was at their doorstep for days?”
Thompson said the wildfire was more than 30 km from the community days before it hit.
“The fire was closer to Kakisa before the extreme wind event pushed it toward the community of Enterprise, which was further than predicted by models,” the minister said. “Aircraft and crews actioned (fought) consistently as conditions allowed throughout the response, beginning with the initial attack on Aug. 2. The fire impact on Enterprise was not a result of crews being spread out, but a result of an extreme wind event and environmental conditions.”
It’s become well-known that two brothers went into Enterprise to try and fight the fires that reached the community with some help from volunteers, something Bonnetrouge noted in his questioning.
The Deh Cho MLA said those who stayed behind mentioned that there were no fire crews from ECC on hand in the area for as many as five days and he wanted to know why.
“Can the minister apprise the house as to why no fire crews were available in the community to monitor and fight the fires?” he asked.
Thompson said flare-ups were associated with structural fires and wildfire crews aren’t trained to deal with those.
“Structural firefighters need to do the work there,” he said.
Thompson added that his department has met with the hamlet to address concerns and look into what happened in an upcoming review, which will occur once the fire season is complete.