ATHABASCA — The last two summers in Alberta have seen record-breaking wildfire seasons; while 2023 saw 2.2 million hectares burnt and 29 mega-fires recorded by mid-July, 2024 saw more wildfires burning, but significantly less land burnt.
And fire has been on many locals minds since the start of the 2025 wildfire season, especially after an early May blaze erupted south of Boyle, threatening the village and the homes and livelihoods of its residents.
But a new invention created in Athabasca could turn the tables for fire prevention and firefighting, and provincial officials, local politicians, and many curious locals turned up to the Riverfront Park on June 13 to see the water power behind the HydroDome 1000.
“When I first drove down this highway, I saw these beautiful things up there — ‘keep Alberta green, help prevent forest fires,’” said Alois Multerer from Primus Line, a German partner in the HydroDome. “Then I met (Mayor Rob Balay), he came off his combine, shook my hand strongly, and said ‘what are we in for?’”
“I said, ‘we’re going to build a cannon.’ And we did.”
Multerer was joined by MLA Glenn van Dijken, Forestry and Parks Minister Todd Loewen, representatives from the Town of Athabasca, Boyle and Athabasca County, and local fire chiefs to watch a demonstration of a high-volume, high-pressure water cannon designed to prevent and even fight wildfires threatening communities or critical infrastructure — the first of its kind in North America.
“We live on the cusp of the northern boreal forest, an ecosystem that’s designed to burn every 30 to 100 years. And as our forests continue to age and we see different weather events, we’re going to continue to see fire,” said Athabasca County Regional Fire Chief Travis Shalapay. “How we manage that is wildly important.”
Locals with rain jackets and umbrellas gathered behind barriers and ‘do not cross’ tape with phones at the ready to watch the HydroDome pull water from the Athabasca River and shoot it upwards in a 500-foot, 6,000 gallon-per-minute arch.
But if spectators thought that show was impressive, Arnold Waldner of Deep Creek Colony and Gemein Works Inc. said the water cannon was working at only a fraction of its maximum capacity.
“We did the minimum we could down there — we didn’t have enough pumps and we had to be safe because we were near a lot of people.”
The demonstration used two pumps to jet water through a five-inch nozzle, but by using four pumps and an eight-inch nozzle, the HydroDome can send 80,000 gallons per minute a distance of 1,000 feet, and direct that stream 360 degrees around the cannon and in a 270-degree vertical arch.
“The idea behind all this is you put one or two in each town, or by oil wells, or by where ALPAC is, and they’re ready to go,” said Waldner. “It’s a backup safety plan.”
“Although we have ALPAC telling us now the show was way better for them, because if we have too much water hitting their piles, they might blow apart or do damage to infrastructure.”
Although the cannon’s main purpose is preventative, Waldner said the HydroDome can be brought in to fight ongoing wildfires. Depending on location and equipment available, a cannon can be set up in around four hours, and could stop the extent of infrastructure loss as seen in the Jasper townsite last summer.
Since starting the HydroDome project a year and a half ago, FFF Equipment — the joint venture between Primus Line and Gemein Works — has been through three different prototypes, and continues to work on making the unit smaller while maintaining power and volume.
“We’re probably a long way from done because everybody we talk to gives us better ideas,” said Waldner. “Danielle Smith was saying, ‘How far in the air can you shoot?’ Because in Jasper, the town was burning while the fire was still a mile away; embers were coming in.”
“We’ve got a lot more to do, we want to get further, we want more distance with less water, with less pumps. None of its impossible.”
Water, water everywhere
Since the June 13 demonstration in Athabasca, Waldner, a resident of Deep Creek Hutterite Colony 30 kilometres north of town, said his phone line has been busy and his time in high demand with requests for more information and demonstrations.
“We’ve got lumber mills, huge oil companies, drilling rig companies, towns; we had a big meeting with a company that does this for a living, they’re FireSmart companies. They saw the technology and they were just amazed.”
The idea behind the HydroDome was fueled in part by Gemein Works's expertise in pump and hose technology and moving large quantities of water for North American oil patches.
“For us to move three million gallons 40 miles down the road somewhere, we can do that,” said Waldner.
While watching wildfires in Canada grow in size and severity, Waldner and his partners at Primus recognized a gap in the market their tech could flood.
“We sat down and said, if we can move that amount of water that far, why can’t we design something to shoot water?”
FFF Equipment first brought the project pitch to the Alberta government last summer, hoping for preliminary funding opportunities. But Waldner said they soon started to look elsewhere for capital, and potential customers too.
“We’re getting a lot of interest from Manitoba because of the fires there. We’ve had some from Saskatchewan, but the private sector in Alberta is really, really calling.”
“Our focus is really next fire season, we hope to have contracts in place or funding,” said Waldner. “Our plan was to rent, lease, maybe sell, but now that we’re talking to oil companies, water companies, firefighting companies, it’s all over the map.”
Though the HydroDome cannons won’t be cheap — Waldner estimates prices between $35,000 or $75,000 per month, depending on the business structure, cannon model and accompanying water tanks — he said communities and especially private industry are under increasing pressure to consider preventative fire budgets.
“If you take big companies and they have a fire that damages a lot of equipment and they knew this was available, their directors will probably say, ‘you knew this was available, why didn’t you use it?’ he said. “All we need to do is make them aware that it’s available.”
Keeping it local
FFF Equipment’s and Waldner’s vision for the HydroDome include eventual global uptake; he noted once proven in Canada, Primus is looking to take the tech to European firefighters, who are already capitalizing on the firefighting expertise from Alberta.
But for Waldner, keeping the origins of the HydroDome firmly rooted in the Northern Alberta community from which it came is a priority.
The cannon was designed by a local Athabascan engineer, units are manufactured and assembled in a shop right in town, and Logo Me This designed and printed decals and visuals for FFF Equipment.
Waldner said he’s also been collaborating with Mayor Balay and members of the Rotary Club, and said the local input onto the project is a source of pride.
“Athabasca’s burnt down I think three times in the last hundred years,” said Waldner. “Everybody should know that it’s made in Alberta, in Athabasca — we want to keep it that way. Everybody that has worked on it and put their effort in it is local.”
Waldner said he’s talks with a range of private-sector industries and communities across the province, and next steps include finding a partner to gift a HydroDome to for on the ground testing.
“I can’t see why Athabasca won’t be the first place we’d probably donate one. We haven’t made up that decision yet, but … this thing will do a lot better being parked in town on standby than hiding behind our shop.”
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