Mr. Speaker, the 2012 forest fire season is officially over.
This year a total of 298,000 hectares of land were affected by 279 wildfires. The majority of these fires, 241 were lightning caused, 25 were person caused, four were caused by industry, two arose from a coal seam near Tulita and the cause of seven fires were unknown.
There were also eight fires in the NWT section of Wood Buffalo National Park, eight fires in Nahanni National Park and a fire at the Great Bear Lake National Historic Site.
Action was taken on 89 fires or about 32 percent of the reported wildfires. The only known damage to any values at risk was some trapping areas that were burned over.
Core support to the fire program this year included five helicopters, four air tanker groups and 28 -Type 1 wildland fire crews across the NWT. Several additional resources were brought on over the fire season to help with ongoing fires and initial attack including emergency fire fighters and other resources from Canada and Alaska.
The fire season began for crews in late May and continued until Labour Day. Weather stations were reporting high to extreme drought codes into late September. The extreme drought codes are an indicator of the level of seasonal drought.
The wildland fire season normally runs from May 1st until September 30th in the Northwest Territories but this year we were still monitoring fires in the DehCho region into October.
While it was a typical year in terms of number of fires in the NWT, the early start to the season with lightning caused fires is not typical. Normally lighting caused fires are being detected in late June or early July. This year there were six fires caused by lightning in May alone.
Mr. Speaker, a number of fires were larger than normal and burned for an unusually long time. There was little precipitation and long periods of hot, dry weather throughout the Northwest Territories which prolonged the length of time fires burned and increased their size. In addition, every region in the NWT experienced at least one major fire event this season.
Notable fires this season included a fire 15 kilometres south of Behchokö and another south of Hay River that were started by lightning on May 31 and burned until they were finally put out in September. Both fires required extensive action. Several fires near Inuvik, Trout Lake, Gamètì and Délįnę, were also started by lightning in June and burned until September. Fires that started in August near Fort Liard and Kakisa presented problems into late September.
Mr. Speaker, the 2012 forest fire season was difficult and costly in terms of the length of the season, the size of the wildland fires in proximity to values at risk and the time it took to put these fires out.
In addition, the supply of AV gas fuel in the NWT is becoming an issue. The supply is dwindling as more and more companies switch to jet fuel. There was very little AV gas available in Norman Wells and Inuvik during the forest fire season, preventing us from moving our aircrafts into those areas. This required us to bring in CL 215 T’s and a Lockheed L-188 from Alberta, at an additional cost, to manage the fires in these regions. As a result, we are conducting an aviation fleet review this winter to determine next steps.
A Wildland Fire Management Program Review, conducted between October 2009 and January 2011, was initiated to align current and future wildland fire management activities with the policy objectives, the needs of northerners and the principles of ecological integrity. A number of actions were identified to consider. As we continue to implement these actions, and with better knowledge of key program requirements, we are better equipped to protect values at risk, improve coordination and manage wildland fire seasons.
Given the conditions, the 2012 fire season could have been much worse. A review of this season will be done this fall and winter and included in planning for the 2013 season.
Mahsi.