Nine-year-old calls in wildfire
You're never too young to protect Alberta 's forests from wildfire. Just ask nine-year-old David Zebak.
On a recent Sunday afternoon, he and his father, Andrew, were out fishing in a boat on Calling Lake, about 200 km north of Edmonton, when lightning hit the far shore.
“I said to my dad, ‘I see smoke; it might be a forest fire,’” says David, a Grade 4 student at Elmwood Elementary School in Edmonton.
His father, an Edmonton lawyer, recalls that the fire started small but within a few minutes “it really started to burn.” The elder Zebak had a cell phone with him and said to his son, “I wonder where I should call?”
David reacted faster than a lightning bolt. “I told him 310-FIRE,” he says. “I remembered the fire number because I saw a colourful sign on the side
of the road by the school at Calling Lake.”
Before long, airtankers flew over the wildfire and a group of firefighters soon had the wildfire under control.
David’s prompt action has won praise from his peers. “My friends at school thought it was pretty cool,” he says.
His father, a cub leader with the Lynnwood Cubs and Scouts, has taken David on fishing and camping trips with him since a young age. His daughters, Sarah, 8 and Julia, 6, also enjoy outdoor activities.
Andrew says he tries to encourage his children and the cubs he leads to be responsible stewards of Alberta’s vast forests, lakes and natural areas. “I hope they’ve come to recognize how much of our good fortune is due to stewardship.”
In 2006, 261 wildfires were reported using the 310-FIRE line, reports Alberta Sustainable Resource Development. Nearly 2,000 wildfires occurred in the Forest Protection Area of the province last year, burning an area of more than 118,000 hectares. Most of the forested land in Alberta falls within the Forest Protection Area.
The 310-FIRE number is part of an extensive public education campaign by Alberta Sustainable Resource Development to prevent and report wildfires.
Do your part to help protect Alberta’s forests! If you see a wildfire, call 310-FIRE.
