Municipalities in Alberta affected by wildfires receive most of the costs reimbursed by the province

The Alberta government has earmarked $175 million for wildfire recovery after spring and early summer outbreaks swept through some communities and displaced 38,000 people from their homes.

Municipalities and Métis settlements are eligible to apply for provincial funding to help offset some of the unexpected costs of responding to wildfires and repairing any damage.

“Alberta municipalities and Métis settlements have had to manage extraordinary costs and pressures to keep residents’ homes and businesses safe,” Secretary of Public Safety and Emergency Services Mike Ellis said Tuesday at a news conference in Drayton Valley, 90 miles southwest. from Edmonton. “We’re here to help carry this burden.”

Municipalities and settlements can use the recovery money to pay volunteer firefighters, council employees and firefighting costs, run shelters and provide emergency shelter, food and transportation, a government press release said.

It could also cover the costs of measures taken to protect local structures from fire, and to repair or replace infrastructure damaged by fire prevention efforts.

However, since the government changed the program in 2021, the recovery funds only cover 90 percent of the communities’ expenditures.

The program also only covers repairs that are uninsured.

Homeowners, renters, small business owners, landlords, farm owners, nonprofits, and condo associations are not eligible for the disaster relief program. The government says these groups should be eligible for private fire insurance.

Residents of some Alberta Métis settlements have said they don’t know how they will rebuild their homes because insurance companies refused to insure their properties.

East Prairie Métis Settlement, which is about 380 km northwest of Edmonton, lost 27 buildings in a wildfire in May. The settlement was denied home insurance because the houses were too far from the nearest fire station.

Ellis said the provincial government is aware of the challenge but has no solution yet.

“We’re going to do everything we can to make sure we’re helping every community,” he said. “All I can say is that those talks are currently underway.”

With the wildfires in May followed by rain causing flash flooding and a tornado in Didsbury on Saturday, officials acknowledged that 2023 was an exceptional year for natural disasters in Alberta.

Secretary of Municipal Affairs Ric McIver said the county has spent more than $700 million fighting wildfires so far.

Stephen LaCroix, general manager of the Alberta Emergency Management Agency, said there are still 106 active wildfires in the province and the season is not over yet.

Firefighting costs for the year could be higher than 2016, when firefighters spent months putting out wildfires around Fort McMurray.

In mid-June of this year, Alberta marked its worst wildfire season on record with fires covering 1.4 million acres, the highest on record.

LaCroix said 52 communities have been affected by the 789 fires recorded so far this year.

Uncovered expenses can drive up property taxes

It’s numbers like this that lead Big Lakes County chief executive officer Jerry Gautreau to wonder if $175 million in disaster recovery funds will be enough.

“I think that number will be much higher,” Gautreau said.

While the bills continue to roll in, Gautreau estimates that his province in northwestern Alberta could bring in between $4 and $5 million in firefighting costs, fire stoppages, running a shelter and housing evacuees in an emergency shelter, he said.

Municipalities are not allowed to bear a deficit, so the county will have to raise fees or tax rates to cover costs the county doesn’t reimburse, he said.

Firefighting and wildfire recovery alone brought the county’s potential disaster-fighting costs to nearly $900 million, a quarter off the start of the 2023-24 fiscal year. This year’s budget has earmarked $1.5 billion for disaster relief.

Municipal Affairs Secretary McIver said it is too early to say whether the government should revisit that budget line.

Ellis, who is also deputy prime minister, said protecting lives and property is the government’s primary concern – they will deal with the bills later.

“We will do everything we can to keep the people of Alberta safe,” Ellis said.