Thinking Out Loud with Sheldon MacLeod SaltWire

It’s been almost a year since the devastating wildfires in Halifax and Shelburne Counties.  The Barrington Lake fire — the largest wildfire in recorded history of the province and the Tantallon fire — one of the most expensive.
 
Kara McCurdy recently left her role as a Fire Prevention officer with Natural Resources and Renewables for a similar role with Halifax Fire and Emergency Services. She was also presented with the Lynn Orstad Award for preventing wildfire and advancing community resiliency. 
As she moves into her new role with HRFE, McCurdy discusses the FireSmart program and some of the lessons learned on protecting properties from wildfire risk.
 
May 5th to 11th is Emergency Preparedness Week.  For more information visit Halifax.ca/EMO. 

As spring unfolds and the leaves come out, the risk of wildfires in Nova Scotia climbs. A year after the devastating wildfires, an independent report on the response was released by the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables. For more on the response and forest fire prevention, Jim Rudderham, Director for Fleet and Forest Protection was made available. He discusses the critical role of moisture levels, the Burnsafe Map, and how volunteer firefighters are stepping up to safeguard our natural resources. He also discusses the science behind burn restrictions and why burning is always restricted between 8am and 2pm during wildfire risk season. And in the end, it’s all about the collective effort needed from landowners and the community to prevent wildfires.

The idea was to talk with him about his upcoming cross-Canada jaunt with singer/songwriter Jann Arden. But I had to find out the origin story of this upcoming adventure called the “Will they or won’t they tour”.  It launches April 27th in Kitchener before coming to Halifax on the 29th, Moncton on the 30th and St. Johns on May 2nd. Rick Mercer shares what it’s like dividing his time between Newfoundland and Toronto and what to expect when he takes the stage with his friend Jann.

Tim German and his 2017 Hyundai Elantra have made a lot of trips around the Maritimes delivering blood products over the last seven years. And he shares his thoughts about his car, his work and how he has kept his car going long enough to "circle the world 19 times" and counting. 

Nova Scotians are already stepping up to help their neighbours in huge ways. There are 6,000 volunteer firefighters and 1,200 ground search and rescuers across the province. And when Premier Tim Houston recently announced the formation of the Nova Scotia Guard, there were a lot of questions about who would be joining this new team and exactly what they would be doing.  Greg Jones is the President of the Fire Services Association of Nova Scotia. Along with discussing the possible roles for the newly named Guard, Chief Jones discusses recruitment and training challenges facing volunteer groups right now in Nova Scotia. 

Editor's Note — After this piece was produced, an invitation was received by the author for an online meeting with Premier Tim Houston on Sunday, April 14 at 7:15 p.m. to hear from volunteer first responders. 

Imagine walking into a barn and instead of hearing random clucks and squawks, you're privy to a conversation about likes, dislikes, and even emotional states. This isn't a scene from a children's book; it's the reality that researchers at Dalhousie University are uncovering through the power of artificial intelligence. The idea for this conversation came from a news release titled: Fowl language: Dalhousie University researcher uses AI to crack the code of clucks and unravel chicken chatter secrets, opening the door to an improved quality of life. Suresh Neethirajan is an associate professor and the University Research Chair in Digital Livestock Farming in Dalhousie's Faculty of Computer Science. In this conversation, he explains how he is applying artificial intelligence to chicken sounds from more than 30 poultry farms across North America and Europe, including birds with Avian flu and a wide range of health conditions. Using sophisticated machine learning algorithms, he has translated chickens' nonsensical sounds to specific words, like "Danger!" and "Fox!" For instance, he can now understand expressions of distress or a need for help in diseased chickens, much like a human saying, "I have to go to the hospital." Humourist Bill Carr posted a piece highlighting the ethical questions this raises and Dr. Neethirajan addresses some of them in this conversation.