Region Archives: Canada West

Business & Politics

Double trouble: B.C.’s economy threatened by rail and port strikes

By Nelson Bennett
Business in Vancouver
August 7, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

B.C.’s economy could be in for a serious system shock, as the threat of strikes loom at both of Canada’s railways, as well as the Port of Vancouver Railway workers. …The Freight Management Association and the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade are warning it could be a case of double trouble in B.C., because ports here would be not only affected by a strike by railway workers, but of dock foremen as well. …GVBOT president Bridgitte Anderson notes that it is “unprecedented” for both of Canada’s railways – CN and CPKC – to be facing strikes at the same time. …A strike by railroad workers would have severe and immediate impacts. B.C. resource companies that ship bulk commodities like coal and lumber might have to take curtailments, and it would cripple port operations, said Ken Peacock, chief economist at the Business Council of BC.

Read More

Canfor to curtail operations at Fort St. John sawmill amid rail strike

By Steve Berard
Energetic City Fort St. John
August 6, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — A Revised Curtailment Notice has been issued for the Fort St. John Canfor sawmill. According to the notice, the mill will be temporarily curtailing its operations due to an impending rail strike. According to a report from the Canadian Press first published August 5th, the strike would involve “thousands of railworkers” and affect freight traffic across the country. The revised curtailment will run from August 19th until the 30th. Weekday shift workers will re-start their first regularly scheduled shift on September 3rd, graveyard shift workers will return on the 2nd, and weekend shift personnel will resume their work on August 30th. The notice also says that critical positions will be scheduled “as needed.”

Read More

Wood, Paper & Green Building

Burnaby to get $267M mass timber community centre

Construction Canada
August 9, 2024
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

A new mass timber community centre and library with a green roof will replace the Cameron Community Centre and Library in Burnaby, B.C. The project is a significant step towards enriching the local infrastructure and supporting the community’s growing needs. The Burnaby City Council has awarded a construction contract to Graham Construction & Engineering LP for this massive redevelopment project. The building will be a mass timber structure, featuring a green roof visible to neighbouring buildings and solar panels to offset some of the electricity used. While the planned building is four times larger than the existing facility, the parking will be moved underground.

Read More

BC Wood Stakeholders Survey 2024

By Brian Hawrysh CEO, BC Wood Specialties Group
BC Wood Specialties Group
August 12, 2024
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

Are you a BC value-added wood products manufacturer or supplier/distributor? Or are you a stakeholder to BC’s value-added sector—e.g., primary producer, industry association, education/R&D organization, government oversight agency?

If so, your feedback is requested via a brief survey. The survey—part of BC Wood’s new five-year strategic plan—will help ensure we remain effective in addressing issues of importance to the sector. To all those who have responded, we thank you for your input. All responses will be held in strict confidence by our consultant, Wood N Frog Communications. The results will be collated in summary form only. The survey should only take 10 minutes. BC Wood is a not-for-profit trade association that represents BC’s value-added wood products industry with a membership base of 120 wood products manufacturers and a board of directors that represents every value-added sector in every region of the province.

Read More

‘I could feel the heat’: Dunbar fire evacuee recalls massive Vancouver blaze

By Cole Schisler, Srushti Gangdev and Hana Mae Nassar
CityNews Everywhere
August 7, 2024
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

…The building that went up in flames in the Dunbar area of Vancouver is a six-storey, wood-frame structure that had been under construction. Felix Wiesner, an assistant professor in the department of Forestry at the University of British Columbia explains buildings that are built with wood are at higher risk of fire breaking out during construction. “Most of the timber in a six-storey combustible wood building will be encapsulated, so hidden behind gypsum board. But during construction, all of that timber is available. So if there’s a fire, you have a very large fuel load potentially getting involved,” he explained. …However, once completed, and once safety features like sprinklers, alarms, and compartmentation are fully built in, Wiesner says wood-frame buildings are about as safe as concrete- or steel-frame buildings. …Wiesner says builders need to have a water source in the event of a fire, once combustible materials are brought to the site.

Read More

Fire rips through six-storey wood frame development under construction in Vancouver, causing crane collapse

By David Carrigg and Mike Raptis
Vancouver Sun
August 6, 2024
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

An out-of-control fire destroyed an apartment building under construction in Vancouver’s Dunbar neighbourhood on Tuesday and then spread to several nearby homes, totally engulfing one of them. According to Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services deputy chief Robert Weeks, emergency services were called to the intersection of Collingwood Street and West 41st Avenue at around 6:30 p.m. as fire consumed the six-storey, wood-frame development that was near completion. The blaze was so intense it caused a construction crane to crash down across West 41st Avenue, taking out trolley lines and power lines and leading to power outages south of the road. Thick plumes of smoke and large chunks of burning embers drifted west, east and north across the surrounding blocks. “A fire like that creates its own wind. When a fire is as big as it was, all that wood is fuel for the fire,” Weeks said.

Read More

New and retrofitted buildings at BCIT are all part of a ‘living lab’

BC Hydro News
August 2, 2024
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

What do a 12-storey wooden building, a heat pump installation course, a display of various wall and roof assemblies, and retrofits to dozens of campus buildings have in common? They’re all part of the B.C. Institute of Technology’s (BCIT) Living Labs show-and-tell approach about energy use in buildings. …”What sets B.C. apart from most provinces is our renewable BC Hydro electricity,” says Danica Djurkovic, BCIT’s associate VP of campus planning and facilities. “It allows us to approach building design with a focus on renewable energy.” The most visible sign of BCIT’s ambitions is the work-in-progress 12-storey Tall Timber student residence, which is due to be completed and ready to house 470 students in the fall of 2025. It features innovative construction including mass timber technology – five-ply hemlock cross-laminated timber panels and supporting steel columns – along with passive house concepts that will decrease cooling needs in the summer and heating needs in the winter.

Read More

Forestry

Climate change fuels wildfires worldwide

By David Suzuki
The Jasper Fitzhugh
August 9, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

David Suzuki

Last summer, during a record-breaking wildfire season, a podcast host asked Alberta Premier Danielle Smith about the connection between fires and climate change and her government’s opposition to federal climate policies. “I think you’re watching, as I am, the number of stories about arson,” she said. “I’m very concerned that there are arsonists.” She’s not alone in blaming arson, lightning or forestry policies for increasingly intense wildfires and lengthening wildfire seasons. Those are factors, but not the point. Whether fires are ignited by arson, lightning or accident, human-caused global heating is making them more likely and more furious. …Because we’ve already released so many greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, we’ll be facing escalating wildfires for years to come. We can reduce future risk by shifting from polluting fossil fuels to cleaner energy and protecting green spaces, but good forest management is also necessary.

Read More

Chetwynd council backs ForestryWorksforBC amid industry challenges

By Caitlin Coombes
Energetic City
August 8, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

FORT ST. JOHN, BC – The District of Chetwynd has announced its support for ForestryWorksforBC. …The district received a letter from a group of forestry-based organizations asking for the council’s support in a grassroots initiative to raise awareness about forestry. The letter detailed the importance of forestry, the industry’s critical role in rural and urban communities, and the struggles within the industry due to decreasing harvest levels and reduced government revenue. ForestryWorksforBC is advocating for reliable access to allowable annual cut (AAC), the annual amount of timber that can be harvested on a sustainable basis. “Without reliable and timely access to the AAC, we have a lot more to lose than mills,” the organization wrote. Mayor Allen Courtoreille and councillors unanimously agreed to lend the district’s support to ForestryWorksforBC’s message and voted to write a letter of support addressed to the provincial government.

Read More

B.C. Wildlife Federation holds forums across B.C. to highlight wildlife, land-use issues

By Wolf Depner
Campbell River Mirror
August 9, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

As the provincial election approaches, an organization concerned about wildlife and related issues is holding election town halls to make sure their concerns are heard. The B.C. Wildlife Federation has already held nine election town halls across B.C. and plans to hold 15 more, says Randy Shore, BCWF’s public relations and communications specialist. Three town halls are scheduled for the Okanagan in the coming weeks, followed by four more on Vancouver Island, with Metro Vancouver hosting four town halls in September.  “We want to ensure that voters and our elected officials have a chance to discuss wildlife management without the noise that comes with the general election period,” Shore said. “Also, it takes time for parties to build their election platforms. We want to make sure they are considering wildlife management during that process.”

Read More

Elk pose a real threat to fire resistance and biodiversity

By James Steidle, Stop the Spray
The Prince George Citizen
August 8, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

The news out of Jasper is tragic. …Predictably, the disaster has now turned into a political blame game. …So I may as well jump in on the action and blame something no one else will – the elk. At least partially. Yes there should be more controlled burns happening. …And more of those dead pine should have been selectively logged. But we also need to eradicate the elk herds, which never existed in Jasper in large numbers until 1920, when park authorities shipped in 88 elk from Yellowstone. Like in Yellowstone, elk have had a massive impact on the most fire-resistant forest type we have – the aspen. …We need to recognize the elk aren’t precious, nor do they represent a natural park. …They need to be either hunted again or possibly excluded in key areas with fencing.

Read More

More wildfire-caused landslides expected to occur as fire seasons worsen

By Josh Dawson
Castanet Kamloops
August 8, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

As infernos blazing across swaths of B.C.’s forest grow in intensity and number, experts say the amount of wildfire-caused landslides is expected to increase as well. Thomas Pypker, Thompson Rivers University natural resource science professor, said that wildfires can cause landslides by disrupting vegetation and soil. He said soils stay wet for a longer period of time after vegetation is burnt away. This is because less precipitation is absorbed by the vegetation where it can eventually evaporate into the atmosphere. Pypker said about 20 per cent of incoming precipitation is normally reduced through “interception loss” in forest canopies, where it then evaporates. …“If you go deeper in the soil profile, the soil stays wetter …once they saturate, they become liquid and they’ll run downhill.” Roots, which will hold soil in place, will also be killed off by a fire which can further facilitate landslides.

Read More

University of Northern BC researchers reel in $5 million to study impact of climate change on salmon

Business in Vancouver
August 8, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

A team of University of Northern British Columbia researchers has received $5 million in funding to study the impacts of climate change and human activity on salmon. …The research team will be led by Prof. Ellen Petticrew at UNBC and Jason Raine, manager of the Quesnel River Research Centre. …“We expect the findings to be applicable to other large lake systems in the Pacific Northwest which are undergoing climate change,” Petticrew stated. Researchers will study the impacts of climate change, including drought, flooding and wildfires, as well as human activity on salmon habitat. Construction of a new building as well as space for teaching and community outreach in Likely, B.C. is included in the project. The UNBC facilities department is co-ordinating the building’s construction. …The funds came from the British Columbia Salmon Restoration and Innovation Fund, which is co-funded by both the Government of Canada and the Government of British Columbia.

Read More

Chilcotin, Fraser rivers settling after B.C. landslide surge

By Isaac Phan Nay
CBC News
August 8, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Three days after water and debris from a breached landslide powered down the Chilcotin and Fraser rivers in southwest BC, officials say the surge is starting to settle.  Last Wednesday, a landslide blocked the Chilcotin River causing water, fallen trees and other debris to build into a rising lake behind the slide. Water began spilling over the dam on Monday, and soon carved a channel through the landslide that sent a dangerous torrent rushing down the Chilcotin and into the Fraser River. In an update Wednesday evening, the province said the pulse of water has “essentially dissipated” into the southern reaches of the Fraser River in B.C.’s Lower Mainland. …But BC Minister Nathan Cullen said the focus now is on assessing fish passage across the Chilcotin landslide site. There were around 60,000 cubic metres of debris, half of which was captured by the debris trap.

Read More

Does logging a burned out forest hurt or help?

By Sydney Lobe
The National Observer
August 8, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Dr. Karen Price… alongside other experts, is expressing concern that salvage logging — the process of logging wildfire-disturbed forests — has no ecological benefit, contradicts B.C.’s promise to prioritize ecosystem health over timber, and in that context, the process should be reconsidered. However, the B.C. government released new regulations in April that expedite the practice. “We always think we have to do something, that we have to fix something,” Price told Canada’s National Observer. “Often, the best action to restore an ecosystem is to let it restore itself. Nature does better than humans.” Salvage logging is an economically important practice across the country. In B.C., companies and First Nations rely on salvage logging to compensate for timber lost to wildfires. Joe, with the First Nations Forestry Council, notes that for the majority of First Nations reserves in rural areas in B.C., forestry is a primary economic business.

Read More

The future of wildfire

The University of British Columbia
August 7, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Mathieu Bourbonnais

UBC Okanagan researcher Dr. Mathieu Bourbonnais is pursuing solutions to help communities predict, plan for and prevent destructive wildfires like the 2023 McDougall Creek fire. His low-cost, purpose-built wildfire sensors help pinpoint when forests are most susceptible to ignition. …As an Assistant Professor with UBC Okanagan’s Department of Earth, Environmental and Geographic Sciences, he’s examining wildfire coexistence. …Dr. Bourbonnais is placing sensors around the Okanagan Valley to pinpoint high-risk locations. …In collaboration with Rogers Communications, Dr. Bourbonnais’ team is leveraging satellite technology to enhance the sensors. The partnership provides access to Rogers’ cellular networks, technical support and deployment strategies crucial for real-time data transmission, particularly in remote areas outside cellular coverage. …Changing management practices without the ecosystem-specific information can lead to repeated damage, which is why Dr. Bourbonnais joined Dr. Lori Daniels of UBC Vancouver in creating the Centre for Wildfire Coexistence.

Read More

Focus on tangible policies—not political finger-pointing— to reduce fire risks

By Kenneth Green, Senior Fellow
Fraser Institute
August 8, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Kenneth Green

With Jasper badly damaged by fire, Albertans and Canadians are wondering how such destruction was allowed to happen. Much of the public debate assumes that the disaster, in some way, was human-caused or aggravated by governmental negligence or incompetence. Some argue that government policies to suppress natural wildfires, …allowed the build-up of massive amounts of fuel for potential mega-blazes. Others argue that governments have been negligent by failing to allow aggressive logging of dead trees and by using insufficient controlled burns to manage fuel loads of underbrush. Some, of course, blame climate change… There’s a lot of finger-pointing right now. Political point-scoring is the order of the day, particularly in the realm of climate policies. But using the Jasper fire for political ends distracts from the important questions about whether or not anybody or any level of government should try to tame nature outside of human-built environments. 

Read More

Switching to selective logging called key to reviving BC forest industry

By Ted Clarke
The Prince George Citizen
August 8, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Liam Parfitt and Gord Chipman

Liam Parfitt, co-owner of Freya Logging, thinks he has a forestry management solution that will keep northern B.C. mills operating, reduce the risk of wildfires and create habitat that will give plants and animals a better chance to thrive. Parfitt is convinced that selective logging practices that have been used for decades in European countries is what is needed to make Canada’s forest economy thrive again. Selective logging [cuts] some, not all, trees from a specific area. Parfitt says the thinning of forest cut blocks, ones that were clearcut and replanted as recently as 30 years ago, will create more than enough fibre to rejuvenate a forest industry decimated by beetle kills and wildfires. He said the industry is also challenged by a government bureaucracy that has delayed permitting and contributed to a shortage of economically available timber, which has forced companies to curtail mill operations at the cost of hundreds of jobs.

Read More

BC Forest Practices Board to audit First Nations woodland licenses in Skeena region

BC Forest Practices Board
August 6, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

VICTORIA – The Forest Practices Board will audit the forest planning and practices of the Tahltan Nation Development Corporation (the Tahltan) and Metlakatla Forestry Corporation (Metlakatla) on First Nations Woodland Licences N3B and N3E, starting Monday, Aug. 12, 2024. The Tahltan and Metlakatla operate within the Skeena region in the northwestern part of the province. The forest operations of Tahltan, which are subject to audit, are situated in the Iskut Forest Development unit within the Cassiar timber supply area of the Skeena Stikine Natural Resource District. Forestry activities are primarily concentrated along Highway 37 south of Iskut. Metlakatla conducts its forest activities in the North Coast Forest Development Unit 1, located within the North Coast timber supply area of the Coast Mountain Natural Resource District. Forestry operations are south of the Work Channel, near Prince Rupert.

Read More

Audit of BC Timber Sales operations in Boundary area finds issues

BC Forest Practices Board
August 6, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

VICTORIA – An audit of the BC Timber Sales Program (BCTS) and timber sale licence (TSL) holders in the Boundary Timber Supply Area portion of the BCTS Kootenay Business Area has found significant issues with road and bridge maintenance. The Forest Practices Board conducted the full-scope compliance audit of all BCTS and TSL holders’ forestry activities carried out between June 2022 and June 2023. The audit found that BCTS did not inspect any high-risk or very high-risk roads, and only a limited number of moderate-risk roads during the audit period, which is not compliant with the Forest Planning and Practices Regulation. “Most of these roads were built decades ago before the advent of modern road-building techniques,” said Board Chair Keith Atkinson. …The audit also found that TSL holder Tolko Industries Ltd. did not repair broken guardrails on a bridge used by industrial traffic during the audit period. 

Additional coverage by Canadian Press in Business in Vancouver: Audit of BC Timber Sales program finds issues with road and bridge maintenance

Read More

How many tickets and fines have been issued for violating B.C.’s Wildfire Act?

By Alanna Kelly
Bowen Island Undercurrent
August 7, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Some 260 tickets have been issued to people in B.C. in the last five years for violating the provincial Wildfire Act. The Ministry of Forests confirmed the number of tickets handed by Natural Resource Officers (NROs) between April 2019 and March 2024, with Glacier Media. NROs are provincial staff who work throughout B.C. and investigate human-caused wildfires. During the same period, these officers brought 38 cases to administrative hearings for more serious contraventions. “There are a number of enforcement actions Natural Resource Officers can take when a Wildfire Act violation has occurred. Issuing violation tickets and pursuing administrative enforcement penalties or prosecution are different actions,” said the ministry. Carelessly flicking a cigarette butt in British Columbia can cause catastrophic damage and spark wildfires. 60 per cent of wildfires are caused by lightning in B.C., but flicking a cigarette butt or not putting out campfires are common reasons why wildfires start.

Read More

Debris from B.C. landslide raises concerns for fate of salmon runs in Chilcotin, Fraser rivers

By Patrick White
The Globe and Mail
August 6, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

B.C.’s Chilcotin River is flowing once again after breaching a kilometre-long landslide that had barricaded it for five days, unleashing a surge of water laden with silt and timber that poses an uncertain new threat to beleaguered salmon runs currently sniffing out their spawning grounds. Officials have yet to determine any effects on salmon runs, but are prepared to intervene as soon as the river is safe. The emptying of the temporary 11-kilometre lake that formed behind the landslide dam was slower than worst-case scenario modelling, averting the need for mass evacuations downriver. …Dr. Scott Hinch, associate dean at the University of British Columbia’s Pacific Salmon Ecology and Conservation Laboratory is optimistic, saying the Chilko sockeye have the best swimming ability of any of the Fraser sockeye and has a broad thermal tolerance. Studies have found they also have more efficient hearts than other salmon populations. [A Globe and Mail subscription is required for full access]

Read More

BC United pledges ‘world-class’ wildfire institute in Kamloops if elected

By Josh Dawson
Castanet
August 7, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

BC United has pledged to create a “world-class” wildfire prevention and response institute in Kamloops if it forms government following the October election. At a news conference Tuesday morning, Todd Stone, BC United MLA for Kamloops-South Thompson, said the institute would have an initial funding amount of $78 million. Stone said the focus of the proposed institute would be to bring together the BC Wildfire Service, Thompson Rivers University and other post secondary institutions, local communities and First Nations to implement new technologies. “There’s different aspects of research being done by institutions around the province, but the private sector is the piece that’s largely missing from being at the table at the moment,” Stone said. “The institute that we’re announcing here would be largely focused on ensuring that there’s a very strong private component to the acceleration, of the adoption of new technologies, new approaches to wildfire fighting.”

Read More

Hawaii Mars waterbomber back in the sky for first time since 2016

By Susie Quinn
Alberni Valley News
August 5, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

The Hawaii Mars waterbomber is back to flying status. And its time in the Alberni Valley is winding down. The aerial firefighting tanker, owned by Coulson Aviation, took its first flight in eight years on Thursday, Aug. 1, surprising dozens of photographers, boaters and onlookers when a high-speed taxi turned into a takeoff. …Richard Mosdell, who runs Save the Mars program for the B.C. Aviation Museum, was in Port Alberni over the long weekend and said taxiing in the Mars “was just thrilling.” Fifty or 60 boats followed behind or alongside the waterbomber on Saturday, Aug. 3, he said. The waterbomber flew briefly on Sunday, Aug. 4, the same day Coulson hosted an event at the bomber base for more than 400 employees and family members. Coulson Aviation confirmed the Hawaii Mars will fly out of Sproat Lake on its final mission next Sunday, Aug. 11. both time and flight path are still to be determined.

 

Read More

Why are Canada’s parks so primed to burn?

By Drew Anderson & Matt Simmons
The Narwal
August 2, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

…As the Jasper disaster continues to unfold, many Canadians are pointing fingers, looking to blame a single source for what happened. Some say it was the mountain pine beetle, which killed off significant sections of forest, leaving dry, dead trees. Others say not enough was done to thin the forest and build an effective fire break near town. The reality, however, is more complicated. Decades of highly effective fire suppression in and around national parks have left them more vulnerable to large fires, according to Pierre Martel, the director of national fire management for Parks Canada. …Research suggests logging leaves boreal forests more susceptible to fire from both lightning strikes and increased human activity in the woods. …Add in climate change, with its increased heat and chaotic precipitation, as well as dead trees from mountain pine beetles — themselves a byproduct of warmer winters and past forest management — and the conditions are prime for a devastating firestorm.

Read More

U of Calgary professor discusses Jasper wildfires and the role of climate change

By Kimberly Taylor
The Gauntlet – University of Calgary
August 3, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Jed Kaplan

…The University of Calgary’s Dr. Jed Kaplan — associate professor in the Department of Earth, Energy and Environment — spoke with the Gauntlet about the role of climate change, as well as the effects of land management and the natural forest ecosystem of Western Canada on the Jasper Wildfire Complex. Kaplan said, “the forests of the Rocky Mountains in Alberta and a large part of surrounding areas are adapted to fire. They are forests that have naturally burned for tens of thousands of years. That’s just a part of our product of the climates that we have here in summertime, where we often have periods of warm weather and dry conditions and also lightning strikes.” However, Kaplan also explained climate change has increased both the length of these hot dry seasons and the temperatures themselves, both of which contribute to increasing severity and frequency of wildfires.

Read More

Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

Politicians aren’t connecting climate change with wildfires

By Lorne Fitch, professional biologist
Edmonton Journal
August 6, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada West

The tearful performance of Premier Danielle Smith on the conflagration that engulfed Jasper seemed somewhat melodramatic, as oil continued to flow unimpeded through the Trans Mountain pipeline. It reminded me of the phrase, “Nero fiddled as Rome burned.” …As John Vaillant, author of Fire Weather, points out, climate change did not light the wildfires we are experiencing. …What we have heard in the aftermath of the Jasper fire are the sophomoric remarks on who should lead wildfire operations, arguments on why more logging and cattle grazing (including in national parks) would solve the issues of wildfires and floating other diversionary tactics like taking over national parks, instead of connecting the dots to these wildfires. With their remarks, it is clear the premier and her minister of Forestry are not conversant with current forest management research. Neither is the department of Forestry which seems to operate more as an arm of the forest industry.

Read More

Health & Safety

Western wildfires: Mitigating worker health risks on jobsites

By Grant Cameron
Journal of Commerce
August 7, 2024
Category: Health & Safety
Region: Canada, Canada West

Summer is the peak period for construction work in most parts of Western Canada. It’s also the time when those who spend much of their workday outside are under threat from wildfire smoke. …The smoke from the wildfires is carried by the wind and often reaches construction sites where it can impact the health of workers. Erin Linde, director, health and safety services at the British Columbia Construction Safety Alliance (BCCSA), says construction employers need to prepare in advance of the threat because wildfires are now commonplace. …Wildfire smoke is dangerous for everybody who works outdoors but construction workers are especially at risk because they are often doing physical work and breathing in particles. …Wildfire smoke is dangerous because it’s a complex mixture of particulate matter, gases such as carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic compounds. Some of the particulate matter is very minute and can reach deep into the lungs.

Read More

Falling tree fatally injures Alberta firefighter battling Jasper-area wildfire

CBC News
August 3, 2024
Category: Health & Safety
Region: Canada, Canada West

A 24-year-old Calgary man is dead after being injured by a falling tree while fighting a wildfire northeast of Jasper, Alta. According to the Jasper Wildfire Complex Unified Command, which is comprised of members of both Parks Canada and the Municipality of Jasper, it happened around 2 p.m. MT Saturday. The firefighter’s crew provided first aid before Jasper National Park visitor safety specialists and the Alberta Wildfire unit used a wheeled stretcher to bring the 24-year-old firefighter to the nearest helipad, the unified command group said in a statement. From there, he was flown to the Parks Canada operations compound in Jasper, where STARS air ambulance was waiting. “Tragically, despite efforts of the first responders and STARS air ambulance team specialists, the injured firefighter did not survive and was pronounced deceased shortly after transfer to STARS,” officials said.

Read More

Forest Fires

Argenta residents allowed to return home following wildfire evac

Nelson Star
August 8, 2024
Category: Forest Fires
Region: Canada, Canada West

Argenta has been downgraded from an evacuation order to alert, allowing residents to return home despite a wildfire still burning east of the small community. The BC Wildfire Service and Regional District of Central Community announced Thursday morning that 82 properties and 19 parcel identifiers north of Bulmer’s Point and east of Argenta Road, as well as Argenta and east of the southern portion of the Duncan forest service road, are no longer on an evac order. An evac order for Duncan Island and boat-access only parcels in Area D north of Glacier Creek Regional Park that impacted one property and 51 parcel identifiers has also been rescinded. The Argenta Creek wildfire, which has been burning since July 18, is 18,390 hectares in size within the Purcell Wilderness Conservancy and listed as out of control.

Read More

BC Wildfire Service: Wildfire past Port Mellon ‘out of control’

By Sandra Thomas
The Sunshine Coast Reporter
August 8, 2024
Category: Forest Fires
Region: Canada, Canada West

A wildfire at Plowden Bay, which is located just past Port Mellon and Dogpatch, has already spread to more than one hectare. According the BC Wildfire Service, the fire was first reported at around 4:30 p.m. this afternoon. According to one report, the fire has caused the evacuation of non-essential mill workers from the Howe Sound Pulp and Paper Mill on Port Mellon Highway. A person answering the phone at the mill, was not able to comment when asked to verify. A reporter for the Coast Reporter counted at least seven planes responding to the blaze, including several water bombers. The fire is described by the BC WildFire Service as “out of control”.

Read More

Jasper wildfire could burn into the fall season: officials

By Zac Delaney
Edmonton Journal
August 6, 2024
Category: Forest Fires
Region: Canada, Canada West

Parks Canada is preparing for a long battle with the Jasper wildfire complex, saying that it could rage on until November. Although recent precipitation has helped firefighting efforts on the ground, Parks Canada incident commander Landon Shepherd said in an update Tuesday that it hasn’t changed the long term “prognosis” of the blaze. “We’re expecting that the fire season will continue like it has for the last five fire seasons, where it may extend right into early November,” said Shepherd. Alberta Wildfire said it wouldn’t be uncommon to have a fire burn into the fall… “It depends on how much precipitation they get – it would not be unusual for a large scale wildfire to take several weeks certainly, if not months, to fully extinguish,” said Christie Tucker, Alberta Wildfire information unit manager. The status of the fire is still out of control and burning approximately 34,000 hectares and spanning more than 30 kilometres.

Additional coverage by Wallis Snowdon in CBC News: Summer could be over long before the fight to tame the Jasper wildfire is won

Read More

Right place, right time: Off-duty RCMP officer spots woman suspected of starting Port Alberni wildfire

By Ethan Morneau
Chek News
August 7, 2024
Category: Forest Fires
Region: Canada, Canada West

Mounties in Port Alberni say an off-duty officer spotted a woman who is believed to have started a wildfire. Tuesday, Aug. 6, the Port Alberni RCMP officer observed and reported a fire in a forested area, near the Stirling Arm and Canal Main forest service roads. Officers responded to the area and found a 27-year-old woman suspected of starting the fire. Police say she’s been held in custody and brought before the courts, and a detailed report is being sent to Crown counsel for consideration of charges. …Fire information officer Sam Bellion is urging people to use extra caution, including on Vancouver Island, where the fire danger rating currently varies from moderate to extreme. …She adds that so far this year, people are responsible for the majority of the wildfires reported within the Coastal Fire Centre, which includes the Island, Lower Mainland, Central Coast and Haida Gwaii.

Read More

Smoke expected across mid-Island from northern B.C. wildfires

By Alex Rawnsley
Nanaimo News Now
August 6, 2024
Category: Forest Fires
Region: Canada, Canada West

NANAIMO — Expect some smoky skies across the region for the next couple of days. Environment Canada is calling for “local smoke” in the Nanaimo and Oceanside areas, beginning overnight Tuesday, Aug. 6, stemming from major wildfires in B.C.’s north. A pair of blazes west of Prince George and south of Burns Lake are providing the majority of the haze, with smoke first drifting west and then being picked up by coastal winds moving south. “[Those fires are] really producing more the stronger concentration of smoke that’s descending down on the Vancouver Island,” meteorologist Brian Proctor said. “We’re also seeing a little bit of smoke drift in and across…from the mainland.” Both the R11204 and the Michel Creek fires each measure around 11,200 hectares and were discovered in mid-July. …Smoke is forecast to reach the region beginning just after dinner on Tuesday and persist at least until Wednesday.

Read More

Evacuation orders, alerts issued as Hullcar Mountain now a wildfire of note

By Cindy White and Chelsey Mutter
Castanet
August 6, 2024
Category: Forest Fires
Region: Canada, Canada West

The Columbia Shuswap Regional District and town of Spallumcheen have issued evacuation orders and alerts due to the spreading Hullcar wildfire, at the advice of the BC Wildfire Service. The Hullcar fire was upgraded Tuesday evening by the BCWS to a wildfire of note. The township has placed numerous addresses on Hullcar Road, Deep Creek Road, Todd Place and Frederick Road on evacuation order. Addresses on Parkinson Road, Wyatt Road, Knobb Hill Road, Sharp Road and Salmon River Road and Hullcar Road are under evacuation alert. …The CSRD also has an evacuation alert in place for the east side of Salmon River Road from 1605 to 1915, as well as the west side of Deep Creek Road from 1606 to 2058. Those in the order area must leave immediately, while those under alert should be prepare themselves to leave at a moment’s notice.

Read More

1st bus tour for evacuees of Jasper goes ahead as Trudeau visits fire command centre

By Emily Rae Pasiuk
CBC News
August 5, 2024
Category: Forest Fires
Region: Canada, Canada West

The first bus tours into a partially-burned Jasper went ahead Monday morning, as officials from multiple levels of government, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, attended briefings in nearby Hinton, Alta. According to Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, buses left from Hinton and Edmonton Monday, carrying 62 passengers. Another bus, from Valemount, B.C., will leave on Wednesday. A total of 563 people have registered. Media are not permitted on the tours. Priority is being given to those whose homes were damaged or destroyed in the wildfire that ripped through the town more than a week ago. Residents are not allowed to leave the bus during the tour for safety reasons. Trudeau attended a technical presentation with Smith and Mike Ellis, Alberta’s minister of public safety and emergency services, Monday morning.

Read More

Two wildfires near Nordegg classified as out of control

The Red Deer Advocate
August 5, 2024
Category: Forest Fires
Region: Canada, Canada West

Battles against wildfires near Nordegg continued over the weekend. There are currently two wildfires classified as out of control in the western portion of the Rocky Mountain House Forest Area, according to an update from Alberta Wildfire on Monday. A wildfire referred to as RWF064, located 12 kilometres northwest of the Ram Falls Provincial Park boundary and 25 kilometres south of Nordegg, remains classified as out of control. This wildfire is now estimated to be 6,996 hectares in size. “Firefighters and heavy equipment continue work on building containment lines around RWF064, maximizing use of natural features in the area,” states Alberta Wildfire’s most recent update. “Thanks to the favourable weather, crews are making good progress on containment and suppression efforts. Helicopters will continue to support with strategic bucketing operations, as conditions allow.”

Read More

Wildfire near B.C.’s Manning Park burns so intensely it produces thunderstorm

By Ben Mijure
CTV News
August 5, 2024
Category: Forest Fires
Region: Canada, Canada West

MANNING PARK, BC — The Calcite Creek fire, burning near the eastern edge of Manning Park, produced a pyrocumulonimbus cloud Sunday afternoon which generated thunder and lightning strikes. According to the BC Wildfire Service, the phenomenon is not uncommon on large, intense wildfires. “It is something that we see. That fire was burning rank four, so a crowning fire through the canopy, and when a fire burns that hot, one of the things that we can see is that it starts to generate its own weather,” said Taylor Shantz, a fire information officer. The fire is officially listed as 4,100 hectares in size, but Shantz said that is likely an underestimate because the weather being generated by the fire made it difficult for aircraft crews to clearly see the perimeter.

Read More

Wildfire Service orders evacuation for properties in B.C.’s Princeton area

Canadian Press in Battlefords Now
August 5, 2024
Category: Forest Fires
Region: Canada, Canada West

VICTORIA — Authorities issued an evacuation order Saturday night for 16 properties in a rural area south of Princeton, B.C., because of the out-of-control Calcite Creek wildfire. The properties are located near Highway 3 along the Pasayten Forest Service Road, about 40 kilometres south of Princeton, while alerts were issued for nearby properties at Eastgate and Placer Creek. The province’s Wildfire Service reports eight fires of note in B.C.’s southern regions, including the Dogtooth wildfire south of Golden, which has destroyed 15 structures; the Dunn Creek wildfire located about 100 kilometres north of Kamloops; the Sitkum Creek wildfire northeast of Vernon; and the Shetland Creek Wildfire near Lytton. A wildfire four kilometres south of the Canada-U.S. border at Oroville, Wash., started Saturday and is visible from nearby Osoyoos, B.C. …Officials say there are 333 active fires across B.C., with preparations underway for more lightning-triggered blazes over the coming days.

Read More

Forest History & Archives

Hawaii Martin Mars, a historic B.C. water bomber, completes its final flight

CBC News
August 11, 2024
Category: Forest History & Archives
Region: Canada, Canada West

Thousands witnessed the final landing of the historic Hawaii Martin Mars, a legendary aircraft that fought wildfires in B.C. for more than 50 years. The massive aircraft departed from its longtime base at Sproat Lake in Port Alberni and landed in Saanich Inlet, before heading to its new home at the B.C. Aviation Museum. …Earlier this year, Coulson Aviation, the company that purchased the Hawaii Martin Mars in 2007, announced it is donating the aircraft to the B.C. Aviation Museum, calling it a “grand ending to a great history”, Wayne Coulson, CEO of Coulson Aviation said. …The Hawaii Mars was one of six prototypes produced by the U.S. navy in the 1940s for large-scale transport between the West Coast and Hawaii. …The Mars was later converted to serve as the largest air ambulance during the Korean War, and in 1958, B.C.’s forest industry purchased four Mars and repurposed them into wildfire-fighting machines.

In related coverage:

Read More