Assessing wildfire preparedness in Alberta communities
Master of Environment and Business graduate Enjulie Bedi explores the barriers to implementing wildfire best practices
Estimated reading time: 1:51
Canada is undergoing more frequent, severe, and longer wildfire seasons. These extreme fires can be difficult to manage, and as they approach communities, they become increasingly costly, having negative impacts on human health, industry, and releasing significant amounts of carbon into the atmosphere.
Enjulie Bedi, a recent Master of Environment and Business graduate, has experienced first-hand the stress and uncertainty that wildfires can cause. In 2023, Bedi’s house near Kelowna, British Columbia, was part of an evacuation alert in response to the McDougall Creek Fire. While her house was undamaged, 191 homes were lost during the fire which reached a size of 13,500 hectares.
“The combination of learning about climate resiliency while at the same time having a home directly impacted by the growing impacts of climate change was a surreal experience and inevitably shaped the direction I wanted the Masters of Environment and Business to take me,” says Bedi.
For her ENBUS 690 capstone, Bedi evaluated the strategies needed to support implementing fire management best practices in ten communities in Alberta. These communities were assessed using the Alberta FireSmart™ Community Scorecard, which rates fire preparedness over ten sections. Communities were then asked to identify barriers and incentives for adoption.
Results showed that 90% of surveyed communities identified wildfire risk in their community as high, which shows a pressing need to implement comprehensive fire management. When assessing these communities using the scorecard, the overall average score was B. Communities showed strength in some of the ten sections, including Hazard and Risk Assessment, Cross Training, and Emergency Planning. However, lower scores were identified in sections like Interagency Cooperation and Development. The most common barriers for implementing FireSmart™ best practices were funding and lack of staff resources.
The results from Bedi’s capstone project will be part of a report for provincial authorities and funding bodies. The report, led by Dr. Anabela Bonada at the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation in the Faculty of Environment, will identify ways these actors can support communities as they build their wildfire resiliency.
Bedi’s capstone project also provided a gateway to her current role as Project Manager of Wildfire Research at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan. “I was actually hoping to take some time off after my capstone presentation, but the position came up and felt like a really great opportunity”. She now supports provincial and national wildfire research projects through the Earth, Observational, and Spatial Ecology Lab and the Centre for Wildfire Coexistence.
Bedi’s curiosity and educational goals, combined with the Master of Environment and Business program, altered her career trajectory and transformed her from a citizen impacted by wildfires to a wildfire knowledge specialist.
