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By Cal Braid
Southern Alberta Newspapers
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Fire prevention is everyone’s responsibility. It’s a collective effort. But for farmers and rural dwellers, it’s an individual responsibility to protect their families, homes, and the property they own and make a living off of.
Heath Wright, the manager of regional emergency services and director of emergency management at Lethbridge County, knows this and wants to get the word out. He’s got an eye on the city, the small towns, the farms, and acreages that are bound within the county lines. He’s promoting fire prevention within the entire region, which includes the City of Lethbridge. “We work very closely with Lethbridge,” he said. “It’s just kind of an automatic that we started looking at it from a regional perspective, instead of siloing each fire department off, because we all need each other in major disasters anyway.”
Wright spent 20 years as the fire marshal in the City of Lethbridge. He knows fire prevention very well, and is now considering it from a rural perspective. “I want to look at helping residents out in the rural areas that just don’t understand the importance of access and water supply. And the fact that a lot of people find out after the fact. They have content insurance, but they don’t have fire suppression insurance because they think that the fire services are covered through the tax base, and it is a little bit, but it’s not to the point where we could afford our own fire department. It’s just too much of a tax burden on the tax base, right? Unless they want to see about a 12 per cent increase in their taxes. So, that’s kind of where my perspective is.”
He said the County used to have an official who wore a uniform and responded to calls with the fire departments themselves, but post-Covid, the new CEO decided that the County needed somebody just to manage it, instead of having “chief of all chiefs.”
“That’s kind of where we went with it,” he said. “So they came and asked me if I’d be interested, so I left the City and came here, and that’s what I’m doing. I’m looking after the contracts, and I look after the emergency management, too. If a major disaster happens, then I would be the guy that looks after that kind of stuff. Get everything organized.”
Two towns within the county -Coaldale and Picture Butte– are having open houses, and the County will be there with a booth to promote knowledge among those who live on the outskirts or far from any town services. “We’re going to talk about the same things I just mentioned to you about water supply and access and insurance and fire smart initiatives and all that kind of stuff,” he said, adding that the County distributes postcards containing basic information that rural residents should be aware of.
“Is your farm fire department friendly?” he asks. “(It says), protect your property and livelihood by taking these steps and know your rural blue sign address, write it down, and the place of all buildings, vehicles, and equipment. The reason for that is when somebody calls 911, they don’t know their address. And then the other is, check your insurance. Does it cover firefighting costs? Is all property insured and is the suppression covered? And then know where your water supply is in case of a fire. Keep your property accessible for firefighters and equipment so they can get in. Always burn with caution, and get a fire permit when permits are allowed. Know what to burn.”
He said that Picture Butte is holding an open house evening at the fire hall on Oct. 9 and Coaldale is doing the same from 7 to 9 p.m. on Oct. 10.
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