Murray Wood: Who's hot... and who's not
Every Friday, Murray Wood takes a look back at the week's news and decides who's hot... and who's not. This week's list ...
The community of Big River hasn’t been threatened by wildfire in recent memory.
But the town’s mayor knows the threat is there, as other northern Saskatchewan communities have experienced.
“You can only do what you can do, right? I mean, Mother Nature is quite a beast when she gets going sometimes, but communities can try and do what they can do to help prevent a lot of it,” Chad Dunn said.
Read more:
- Federal government announces $34M to help communities cope with climate change
- Denare Beach residents say SPSA didn’t listen to locals about wildfire action
- Energy and Sustainability Framework outlines city’s plan to net zero
Dunn is welcoming $792,000 in funding announced as part of $34 million from the federal government for climate resilience.
Part of that funding will be used to replace the backup generator at Big River’s water treatment plant. Dunn explained that following a plant expansion, the old generator is not adequate to both treat and pump water in the event of a power outage.
“Being in the forested area here, if we ever run into a situation where we have to do lots of firefighting around town, we don’t have the capability if we lost power to be able to make water and distribute water,” he said.
Certain fire hydrants around Big River will also be upgraded.
The funding announced Wednesday will assist with around a dozen projects in Saskatchewan, ranging from drainage projects in Saskatoon, Battleford, Fort Qu’Appelle and Weyburn to feasibility studies. Regina is creating a roadmap to retrofit facilities.
The projects were chosen following a 2024 call for applications to the Green Municipal Fund’s Local Leadership for Climate Adaptation program, in partnership with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.
Dunn said the Town of Big River is also working with forestry companies and the neighbouring rural municipality to build firebreaks.
“There’s such an erratic change in the weather patterns that you never know what’s going to happen,” he added.
The town is making a $247,500 contribution to go along with the federal grant, while the R.M. of Big River is providing $10,000 in in-kind contributions.
The federal government, citing the Insurance Bureau of Canada, said $9.4 billion in insured losses were caused by extreme weather in 2024, an all-time record for Canada.
