Has this week’s rain, snow helped Alberta’s wildfire situation?

Southern Alberta didn’t see much in the way of April showers this year, but May came in cold and wet.

Is any of that helping with the province’s wildfire situation?

For a second straight year, the wildfire season started fierce and prompted evacuations in parts of the province.

According to Christie Tucker with Alberta Wildfire, the moisture across the province this week has made a difference.

“Recent cooler weather and precipitation has meant wildfire activity has been subdued this week,” she says. “We’ve managed to extinguish a number of wildfires, including carryover fires that have been burning since last year.”

She says there are currently 43 wildfires burning in the forest protection area of Alberta, with 3 of those being classified as held, and the rest considered under control.

Tucker says the break in the weather has been helpful to contain those fires, but the province isn’t out of the woods yet.

“In areas with built up drought conditions it is still easy for some warm, dry, windy days to raise the wildfire danger level again,” she says.

The drought code still showing very high to extreme wildfire danger in some parts of the province. Tucker says those areas would need a week of heavy and steady rain for the situation to improve.

Alberta’s Minister of Forestry and Protection Todd Loewen rolled out the Alberta Wildfire Reservist Program on Thursday.

“Through this program, Albertans can offer assistance as emergency firefighters, but there are also many other support positions available off the fire line,” he says.

Loewen says those interested in contributing to wildfire prevention and response efforts can sign up on the province’s website. They will receive full training before being deployed in any support or firefighting capacity.