Gary These says he’s going to make sure a sprayer is full of water should he need it
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
Gary These remembers seeing the flames from the 2023 wildfire season from his ranch near Peace River.
“You could look across our yard and see them,” he told Farms.com. “Luckily the fires didn’t jump the river in our area, but it was too close for comfort.”
These’s herd was in the middle of calving when the fires got close.
He had plans in place to move his cattle to a hundred-acre plot of land where they would’ve been safe if evacuations were necessary.
But he admits it would’ve been a difficult undertaking.
“There would’ve been almost no way to evacuate the cattle and I don’t think there would’ve been enough trucks in the area to do that anyway,” he said. “And it’s not like you could chase them there. Our oldest calf at the time was three weeks old.”
Oct. 31, 2023, marked the end of that year’s wildfire season in Alberta.
A total of 1,092 wildfires burned about 2.2 million hectares (5.43 million acres), data from the provincial government said.
For context, Wales and Belize are about 4 million acres each in size.
In February 2024, the Alberta government declared an earlier start – 10 days earlier to be exact – to the wildfire season.
And current information from Alberta Wildfire indicates there’s 57 active wildfires across the province.
In advance of any wildfires in his area, These has made sure his insurance policies are in line, and is preparing a piece of equipment.
“I’ve got an old 800-gallon sprayer and I’m going to make sure that’s full of water in case we have to act quickly and fight a fire that’s close to the yard,” he said.
As an Alberta resident, These is concerned about how this point has arrived.
“I think we’ve been setting ourselves up for this by letting so much fuel to build up in areas,” he said. “And when it gets very hot and very dry, it gets to be a very hot fire when they do start. It’s scary.”