Wildfire Season in Alberta
Did you know? Alberta’s official wildfire season runs from March 1 to October 31 annually. Wildfires can escalate quickly, impacting communities, homes and the environment as well as interfering with ATCO’s electric and/or natural gas infrastructure.
We’re always monitoring the threat and work closely with local and provincial authorities to keep impacted areas safe for our customers and employees.
Fire damage to our infrastructure and even in-place evacuation orders may mean that regular electricity service to impacted areas could be disrupted.
Contact Us
- ATCO Electric Emergency Line: 1-800-668-5506
- ATCO Electric Customer Experience Centre: 1-800-668-2248
- Download ATCO My Electricity app or view the power outage map for current outages.
Resources
The Government of Alberta has extensive resources available for emergencies that could impact your community – things like evacuation support, road reports, active wildfire details, and more. You can also download the Alberta Wildfire and Alberta Emergency Alert apps for the most current details.
What we're doing
Keeping communities and customers safe is our main priority. ATCO is working hard to ensure our system is as reliable and resilient as possible, even in the face of extreme weather events.
- A dedicated ATCO team acts as our frontline defense to proactively identify threats and prepare for situations that could impact your service.
- We work closely with local and provincial authorities to coordinate our actions before, during and after events.
- We protect our infrastructure.
- We’ve significantly expanded our fire mesh program to help prevent damage to electricity poles.
- We’re expanding our vegetation management efforts to remove even more flammable debris away from our system.
- We’re piloting cutting-edge technology to swiftly detect wildfire threats to our system and alert us when our things aren’t functioning properly.
WHAT YOU CAN DO – PREPARE YOUR PROPERTY
-
Outside
- Create a safe zone around your property by removing flammable items that are within 1.5 metres of the perimeter. This includes cleaning out your rain gutters.
- Water and trim grass, trees and shrubs to ensure moisture and keep brush away from your home.
- Keep flammable liquids like propane tanks at least 3 metres from the property.
- Invest in fire-rated, non-combustible materials for the exterior of your home such as fire-resistant roofing, siding, and heavy-duty windows.
-
Inside
- Ensure smoke detectors and carbon monoxide alarms are installed and working on every floor of your home.
- Ensure flammable materials are cleared from appliances like stoves and toasters as this may lead to a fire risk if the property is vacant when power is restored.
- Have an emergency kit prepared to sustain you and your family (including pets) for up to 72 hours. Items to consider include:
- Food (canned goods, snacks, etc.)
- Water and electrolytes
- Medical supplies (prescription meds, over the counter meds, etc.)
- First aid kit (band aids, gauze, bandages, antiseptic wipe, protective gloves, etc.)
- Sanitation supplies (hand sanitizer, masks, cleaning wipes, etc.)
- Other (power bank, flashlight, multi-tool, blankets, lighter, etc.)
WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT POST WILDFIRE
Each wildfire and its impact on the surrounding community are different. In some areas, ATCO may be either partially or fully restricted from entering evacuated zones to address any damage. We work closely with the local authorities and our customers to determine which sites and areas are a priority. All this can make it challenging to predict re-energization activities.
For safety, entire areas or specific homes may require a damage assessment and necessary repairs before power can be safely restored. Once complete, ATCO may need to coordinate with an onsite representative for each location prior to re-energization (if no one is available, ATCO may need to turn off a site’s breaker and fuses until we can verify that it’s safe to proceed).
These steps ensure the safety of our customers, employees, and our customer’s assets.
Our Wildfire Mitigation Approach
At ATCO, we are committed to ensuring our infrastructure remains safe and reliable and prepared for climate impacts.