NEWS FILE PHOTO
The burned out remains of one family farm near Hilda. Wind moved the wild fires' flames at over 100 km/h at one point, leaving firefighters to helplessly look on as some properties burned.
Southern Alberta Newspapers
Alberta’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry announced Monday that it’s providing a $200,000 grant to assist victims of October’s wildfire in Hilda.
The funds are in addition to the $25,000 per property interest-free loan provided by the province in December.
Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Oneil Carlier says the government decided to provide additional funds after consulting with affected farmers and ranchers in Cypress County and the MD of Acadia.
“Fires are never pleasant, obviously, and we’re hoping this goes a long way to help alleviate some of that stress,” said Carlier.
“We’ve been hearing from producers, hearing from the municipalities, hearing from community associations that they wanted to have something structured that is similar to what Saskatchewan has done.”
He encouraged producers in the affected areas to make use of the interest-free loan and on-farm water program grant from April 2017, both of which will also help them rebuild, but didn’t rule out the possibility of more funds in the future.
“We’re continuing monitoring, looking at the uptake of what’s done (and) continue working with producers,” Carlier said.
“We’re going to monitor the situation as we go forward (to) determine what and if any steps might be necessary.”
The Hilda wildfires burned about 35,000 hectares in the county and MD, damaging pastures, fields, fences, buildings, killing 200 livestock and destroying one home.
