The County advises that residents southeast of the City of Grande Prairie may notice smoke in the air over the next few weeks as crews complete wildfire mitigation work.

Over the past month, work has been underway on nearby Crown land removing deadfall and over-mature spruce that fuel wildfires, with crews now readying the sites to burn remaining deadfall.

Burning of the leftover debris is carefully conducted under select weather conditions and is managed in such a way to minimize smoke. The work marks the completion of this year’s FireSmart project.

“The County’s FireSmart initiatives are a proactive approach to minimizing the potential for wildfire in more populated areas and higher risk areas,” said County Community Services Director Dan Lemieux. “We’re really proud of this work, which has been underway since as early as 2010.”

Lemieux noted that the logs from over-mature spruce have already been removed and trucked to Canfor to be used for lumber.

This FireSmart project is being managed by the County, and is jointly funded by the County and the provincial government as part of the Forest Resource Improvement Association of Alberta (FRIAA) Grant Program, and in partnership with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry.

See attached map of the two areas where FireSmart work will be taking place. For more information about the County’s Wildfire Mitigation Strategy, visit www.countygp.ab.ca/wildfiremitigation or call 780-532-9727. To learn more about FireSmart visit www.wildfire.alberta.ca and www.aep.alberta.ca.

2018 FireSmart Project Map FINAL

Information provided by the County of Grande Prairie.