Okotoks Fire & Rescue recently added a couple of new vehicles to its fleet.
Both will come in handy with the risk of grassfires rising amid the onset of warmer weather in the Foothills.
One of them is an agile new Bush Truck, explains Deputy Fire Chief Colin Sager.
"The Wildland Bush Truck, we had specially built for our area. So it sits a lot taller than our old one, it carries a little bit more water, and the functionality of it is to get into those tighter areas where we can actually get up towards either the edge of the fire or right at the fire itself. And an ability to maneuver in our river valley, the area around the river, each side, east and west. Also, as that ties into our neighbours, the ability to make a run if we have to get into those tighter areas and on the other side of town as well."
The other new addition is a Freightliner Tender.
"It almost doubles the capacity of water that we have currently from our old tender. And it has the ability to pump and run as well," says Sager. "We usually use roadways as brakes and things like that. So this has the ability to run along those roads and then put water either in a ditch or in a field type of thing along the edge of a field to try and stop it from moving across into that area. It really just gives us the extra capacity with the extra water to stay out in that field longer and to help mitigate the fire in any situations we come upon."
Both will come in handy for more rural terrains on the edge or outside of town, though they'll also see some use in the town itself.
Sager points to a few hard-to-reach areas where both vehicles would come in handy.
"We have some places in town, like up at the dog park or areas down in the river valley that can be difficult to get into. These trucks will, the bush for sure can get in there. And then we don't have to find a hydrant as close with the wildland tender to fill up and go back in to help stop that fire from spreading."
A fire broke out near the off-leash dog park in Drake Landing in April of 2022, with strong winds sending flames rippling across the hilly area and close to nearby homes.
Okotoks responders have already been out a few times this year to combat grass fires.
"We've been out on three this year so far. And it is, that top grass is a little dry for sure. We're looking to hopefully get those April showers here to green everything up and change it a little bit, but they've been working well in the field."
The region hasn't faced truly dry conditions so far this year, but Sager urges caution either way.
"We're just reminding people that if they are burning, or if they have a burning barrel, that just make sure it's either on a gravel pad or short grass around it because once it gets into that longer grass and starts taking off, it can get ahead of you pretty quick."