he Town of Banff is pumping more than $1.1 million into wildfire preparedness and protection in 2025 following the devastation of the Jasper blaze last summer, drawing funds from visitor paid parking revenues to accelerate the work and take the financial burden off local taxpayers.
Increasing the parking rate to $7 per hour year-round is expected to generate an additional $830,000 to help fund upgrades to fire protection trailers, protect critical infrastructure like the wastewater treatment plant and Town Hall, and accelerate removal of trees, deadfall and debris.
Coun. Chip Olver said this concept, which will funnel parking revenues through the climate change residency reserve – a fund that allows the municipality to deal with climate-related initiatives – is a “change-maker.”
“It is going to make it possible to address our mitigation and protection preparedness efforts in terms of an emergency like a fire and it gives us a funding source, which is not on taxpayers; more than 99 per cent of those funds come from visitors,” she said.
“All of us will benefit from a safe community and our visitors will appreciate coming to a community that’s paid attention to protection, and we know this is a very high priority item, an urgent item for our residents and I am really pleased to be able to address these initiatives in 2025.”
The Town of Banff is forecasting $7.5 million in paid parking revenue in 2025. This amount includes a move to a flat $7 per hour year-round rate.
Of the $1.1 million in wildfire initiative spending from parking fees, $940,000 will go toward managing vegetation around critical infrastructure and municipal buildings, such as the wastewater treatment plant, Town Hall, Fenlands recreation centre, Banff childcare centre, Roam transit building, and operations compound.
Based on FireSmart assessments, administration has created a plan to address and mitigate the risks identified within a 10-metre radius of public infrastructures and assets.
The scope of the work includes coniferous tree removal and thinning on a priority basis within 10m of public infrastructure; elimination of combustibles like bushes, grass, and mulch within 1.5m of municipal buildings; and restoration of planting beds with fire-resistant landscaping.
Mayor Corrie DiManno said the Town of Banff needs to lead by example.
“We saw what happened in Jasper and how we were all relieved when we heard that all of their critical and essential town infrastructure was saved from destruction,” she said.
“It’s really imperative and important that we turn our attention to doing the same here.”
About $75,000 will be spent on accelerating other fire vegetation management plans, including more aggressive timelines to remove trees, deadfall and debris on four to five hectares of Town land ahead of the 2025 fire season.
Officials say the work would mitigate the risk of wildfire in areas under the Town’s jurisdiction by reducing the impacts of future and probable wildfires.
DiManno said the municipality has been fortunate to get $600,000 over the past decade from the Forest Resource Improvement Association of Alberta (FRIAA) to do all the work.
“We’ve heard loud and clear from the community that they want us to be prepared as possible in advance of the 2025 wildfire season and I am really supportive of the approach to be as aggressive and as ambitious when it comes to removal of wildfire fuel on Town of Banff lands,” DiManno said.
In addition, another $75,000 will go toward upgrades to the structural protection trailers.
Katherine Severson, director of emergency and protective services for the Town of Banff, said proposed upgrades to the sprinkler protection trailers are specifically designed for the needs of the community and will simplify and speed up deployment of these resources when time may be critical.
She said one trailer will hold equipment designed for higher volume water distribution for perimeter lines while the other trailer will remain dedicated for structure protection equipment. In each case, new equipment is required ranging from pumps to hose to sprinkler heads.
“Inside of these trailers is our equipment cache that includes hoses and sprinklers and pumps and all the things that are attached to wild and urban interface firefighting,” she said.
“We believe that these enhancements would increase our ability to respond effectively to a wildfire at the perimeter of town.”
To support all the work ahead, council has also approved a new full-time position to support FireSmart and training duties. The $180,000 for 2025 will be tax-supported, not from paid parking revenues.
The plan is to re-structure the single existing assistant fire chief position, which is currently vacant, into two program coordinator positions at the rank of firefighter.
Severson said the Banff Fire Department’s full-time emergency response structure is not keeping up with increased demands for emergency response, fire prevention and public education.
She said the call volume has increased by 85 per cent since 2013, noting there were 400 calls in 2013 and 743 calls in 2023. As of August, the call volume for 2024 is 14 per cent higher than last year, which she said was already a record-setting year for emergency response.
“Likewise, the demand for FireSmart engagement, planning and program development is increasing as the threat of wildfire continues to worsen,” she said.
Parks Canada is kicking in $150,000 for planning work for a community-wide fireguard after FRIAA turned down the Town of Banff’s funding application.
Fire Chief Keri Martens said the actual construction of the fireguard will be in the millions of dollars and likely done in prioritized phases.
“It will take some time so the goal is to make sure we have our plan in a binder on the shelf ready to go so that when money does become available, and no matter the increment, we’ll be able to make use of it in the best way that we can,” she said.
In council’s approval of the fireguard planning, Coun. Grant Canning said he was disappointed the Town of Banff was denied provincial funding because the fireguard would be built on national park lands.
“The Town of Banff continues to be almost like this collateral damage for this jurisdictional issue between the province and the federal governments and it really frustrates me and infuriates me,” he said.
“We know there’s this rivalry between the federal government and the provincial government, but why are we in the middle of that fight?”