The executive director of wildfire management for the province says a new camera system to monitor forest fires gives the province more potential to expand coverage without putting workers at risk.
Conversion of the observation towers is now underway.
It will take a couple of months to be fully complete with cameras that will replace the observation huts on top of the 90-foot towers.
Steve Roberts says there are several advantages to the changes.
“It is a change and it will impact some staff unfortunately but we believe over all it’s a good system and it will also allow us to do some expansion of our system in the future,” he says. “If a road washes out and we can’t access a tower, the camera’s still at the tower and all the data from those towers is transferred back to a central location where a detection specialist still looks at the data. It’s not a computer, a person makes that analysis.”
Roberts also says the cameras can be placed on top of SaskTel phone or radio towers in areas where there is currently no surveillance.
Thirty seasonal workers will lose their jobs when the cameras are fully in place by the end of this year’s forest fire season.
The Saskatchewan Government Employees’ Union says it is not convinced the new system will work and the government is putting public safety at risk.