Kananaskis council planning fireguards to protect from wildfire threat [Video]

Kananaskis Improvement District (KID) is planning to build fireguards to help shield area housing and infrastructure from wildfire.

Plans include fireguards around the Lower Kananaskis Lake subdivision cabins, Bow Valley Provincial Park housing loop and YMCA Camp Chief Hector at a cost of about $160,000 for planning. If Kananaskis Improvement District’s (KID) grant application is approved, funding would come from the provincial Forest Resource Improvement Association of Alberta (FRIAA) community fireguard program.

“As we’ve discussed many times around this council table, forest fire is probably our biggest risk and biggest fear, and we’ve all seen what happened in Jasper and other communities,” said KID chair Melanie Gnyp at a Sept. 10 council meeting.

“This is a great opportunity for us to try to get some funding to help protect our assets.”