Question Period Note: Wildfire Preparedness

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• Parks Canada takes direct action to prevent and reduce the risk of wildfires to communities and infrastructure by using prescribed fires, mechanical forest thinning, and the creation of community fire guards.
• Parks Canada maintains fire crews that are based in national parks and sites across the country that maintain readiness to respond to wildfires and can be deployed across the Parks Canada network and to support partner agencies when required.
• Parks Canada responds to wildfire with a national cadre of 300 wildland fire management personnel and collaborates with the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre and other key partners. Additional capacity also comes from contracted resources such as aircraft, community protection units, and contract fire crews.

• Under the Canada National Parks Act, Parks Canada is responsible for managing wildland fire across 350,195km2 of federal lands, which is approximately the size of Germany or six times the land mass of Nova Scotia.
o This includes national parks, national historic sites, iconic town sites such as Banff, Jasper and Waterton, and critical infrastructure such as the Trans-Canada Highway and railways.
• Parks Canada prioritizes the safety of the public, first responders, and the protection of communities.
• Parks Canada identifies fire prone sites and develops fire management plans in these sites that provide direction on fire management planning and priorities, and ensures readiness to respond in these sites, including monitoring fire danger, and ensuring a sustainable wildfire response capacity is available.
• Through resource exchange agreements, Parks Canada collaborates with the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC), and municipal, provincial, territorial and international partners when additional capacity is required. Additional capacity also comes from contracted resources such as aircraft, community protection units, and contract fire crews.

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