July 31 Community Press

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The Community

Press

TEXT ‘ABFIRES’ to 45678 to donate $10 to Red Cross for Jasper wildfire relief Volume Volume 117 117 Issue Issue04 05

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Common Weed Harmful to Dogs Page 10

Wednesday, July 2024 ss Wednesday, July 24, 31, 2024

Local Firefighters answer the call for Jasper Four FRESS firefighters jumped into an engine at 4 a.m. on Thursday, July 25, and headed to Jasper, responding to a request for assistance that went out the night before when a wildfire in the region hit the township, and all residents and area campers had been evacuated. Shown above are: retired Fire Chief Reid Rorem, FRESS Alliance Station firefighter Natacha St-louis, FRESS Killam Station Fire Chief Joe Knievel and retired Flagstaff Regional Emergency Services Fire Chief Kim Cannady.

Leslie Cholowsky Editor

When Flagstaff Regional Emergency Services Society (FRESS) Manager Derek Homme received a request from the province for any available personnel and trucks to assist with the fire burning in Jasper township on Wednesday, July 24, he put out a fan out among all FRESS firefighters asking who could go north. With such short notice, not everyone who would have liked to go was able to respond, but four area firefighters were, being Reid Rorem, Kim Cannady, Joe Knievel, and Natacha St-louis. The four headed out with the Sedgewick pumper truck/engine and a FRESS pickup, leaving around 4 a.m. and arriving in Jasper just before noon on Thursday. Cannady says when the Flagstaff crew arrived on Wednesday, the Jasper and wildfire units, who had been up through the night until 9 a.m. were already returning to the job. Cannady says their crew was assigned to a larger task force group, with Joe Knievel as their crew leader, Rorem on pumps, and St-louis and Cannady working a hose. Cannady says there were no actual structures burning when they arrived, but still a lot of active fires burning among the rubble.

He says their task group had two engines, a water tender and some wildland trucks, with some volunteer firefighters and some full timers, from all over the Province. Cannady says the task groups the Flagstaff crew is in have been looking after structures in town, by setting up sprinklers in unburned areas, and putting out any still-burning fires in the burned areas, or, as they were doing Tuesday, July 30, looking for and putting out hot spots with thermal imaging. Cannady says the first day was spent hauling water to a ladder truck. There was only one active hydrant, as the water system had been shut down to the burned areas to keep the water pressure up for firefighting. He says the active hydrant was lake-fed. “All day we filled up with 1,000 gallons and fed it to the big truck.” Since then, work has been on hot spots or fire prevention. The firefighting in the township has progressed to the point where some of the crews have already been sent home, and now Cannady says there’s a push on to extinguish all the hot spots before the forecasted hot and windy weather arrives Thursday, to ensure that there are no embers to be fanned into full-fledged fires by the wind. Cannady says that Knievel and Rorum went home Monday, and were replaced by Mike Keogh

from the Sedgewick Fire Station and Nathan Lunty from the Forestburg Fire Station. Cannady has nothing but praise for the Jasper firefighters who held the fire and saved over half the town. He says recently arrived out-of-country crews and out-of-province crews are working on the wildland fires, along with the armed forces, trying to make sure it can’t come in to town. He’s seen helicopters with buckets overhead frequently, hitting the hills behind the town, and says the fire is presently moving away from the town, burning north of the township. Cannady says there are also a few bears reported to be in town, a black bear with cubs and even a grizzly, but he hasn’t seen them.

The Community Press office will be CLOSED Monday, August 5 for the Civic Holiday. We will reopen Tuesday, Aug. 6 at 9 a.m. and our next edition will still be published Wedneday. Aug. 7 Ad deadlines will be noon Tuesday, Aug. 6


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