Alberta names committee to look into wildfire management programs

Alberta’s government has named an independent committee to look at how well it fought the May fires and the effectiveness of its wildfire management programs, The Globe and Mail reportsThe Slave Lake fire is Canada’s second most costly natural disaster, with an estimated $700 million in insured losses. The review will also look at weather and timber conditions leading to the catastrophe. “What this is not is a review of the overall emergency response that fell on that region during this terrible time when the fires actually did destroy so much personal and public property,” Bill Sweeney, a former RCMP deputy commissioner and chairman of the committee, told The Globe.While the committee’s mandate is broad, Sweeney added he wants to focus on the prevention of wildfires through programs such as FireSmart.