WILDFIRE DISASTER IN ALBERTA AND SERVICES OF HUMANITY FIRST

Written by:  Deeba Chaudhry

Source:  Calgary Ahmadiyya Muslim Examiner

Wildfires are a natural hazard in any forest and grassland region in a country like Canada. These disastrous wildfires are very common in Canada. The regions with the highest wildfire occurrence are the Boreal forest zones of Ontario, British Columbia, the Prairie provinces, Quebec, Northwest Territories, the Yukon and especially the Slave Lake, Alberta. The most common causes of wildfires varies throughout the world. In Canada, lightning is the major source of ignition which is 81% of all fires. But some 55% wildfires are caused by careless campers who did not extinguish their campfire or by walkers who threw their cigarettes in the woods. Wildfires move forward rapidly, even more if winds blow and the weather is dry. In fact, leaves and trees trunks on the ground are burnt to ashes by wildfires. These ashes are full of minerals and help the growth of new trees. By burning trees wildfire make “gaps” in the forest (called clearings). These clearings allow the sun to heat the ground up and help trees seeds to grow. As per Canadian statistics, nearly 9,000 wildfires occur and average area burned 2.5 million ha/year across the country.

The wildfire season stretches from April to October. In Quebec, there is an average of 794 wildfires every year. In Canada, a wildfire front is the portion sustaining continuous flaming combustion, where unburned material meets active flames, or the smoldering transition between unburned and burned material. As the front approaches, the fire heats both the surrounding air and woody material through convection and thermal radiation. First, wood is dried as water is vaporized at a temperature of 100 degree centigrade (212 F). Next, the pyrolysis of wood at 230 C (450 F) releases flammable gases. Finally, wood can smoulder at 380 C (720 F) or, when heated sufficiently, ignite at 590 C (1,000 F). Even before the flames of a wildfire arrive at a particular location, heat transfer from the wildfire front warms the air to 800 C (1,470 F), which pre-heats and dries flammable materials, causing materials to ignite faster and allowing the fire to spread faster. High temperature and long duration surface wildfires may encourage flashover or torching: the drying of tree canopies and their subsequent ignition from below. Wildfires have rapid forward rate of spread (FROS) when burning through dense, uninterrupted fuels. They can move as fast as 10.08 Kilometres per hour in forests and 22 Kilometres per hour in grasslands.

Overall

, fire types can be generally characterized by their fuels. Ground fires are fed by subterranean roots, duff and other buried organic matter. This fuel type is especially susceptible to ignition due to spotting. Firstly, Ground fires typically burn by smoldering, and can burn slowly for days to months. Such as peat fires, in Kalimantan and Eastern Sumatra, Indonesia. Secondly, Crawling or surface fires are fuelled by low-lying vegetation such as leaf and timber litter, debris, grass, and low-lying shrubbery. Thirdly, Ladder fires consumes material between low-level vegetation and tree canopies, such as small trees, downed logs, and vines. Finally, Crown, canopy, or aerial fires burn suspended material at the canopy level, such as tall trees, wines and mosses.

On

May 15, 2011, fast moving wildfire caused devastation in the northern Alberta community of Slave Lake. The damage was catastrophic. Hundreds of home, churches and business were destroyed. The power was out and about 7000 people were forced to evacuate their homes on 20 minute notice. Southern eastern part of the town had the biggest damage where over half the homes were consumed by wildfire flames. The Wildfire disaster prompted an outpouring of support from across the province, and across Canada. The disaster relief agencies in Edmonton, the Canadian Red Cross and Humanity First International Canada were inundated with donations. On May 28^th, 2011 Humanity First Edmonton Chapter in coordination with Emergency Relief Services Edmonton and Slave Lake Community Services offered to provide manpower resources for the sorting, packing and cleanup efforts. The organization volunteers divided into two groups and went from door to door offering help and assisted in the cleanup and rehabilitation. Manpower sources were provided by Humanity First Khuddamul Ahmadiyya Edmonton and they helped sort the goods received as donation.