Category Archives: Forest Fires

VICTORIA — A “lit”terbug was issued a hefty fine after Victoria’s police chief caught him flicking a cigarette butt out his car window. Chief Const. Del Manak said he was travelling on a highway in his unmarked police car when he noticed the driver of a Ford Mustang ahead of him toss the lit butt. “I am driving in the curb lane, traffic was fairly light on Saturday evening and I noticed that the driver had a cigarette in his hand. He had put the ashes out the window as he’s driving and I saw that he took the last drag of the cigarette and he flicked it out his driver’s window,” he said. “It went in the air and landed in front on the road.” That action cost the 21-year-old driver $575 under the province’s Wildfire Act.

The BC Wildfire Service is responding to a 47-hectare wildfire about 24 kilometres southwest of Baynes Lake and approximately two kilometres north of the B.C. – United States border. It is located at 55 km Linklater Forest Service Road. As of 4:50 p.m. Wednesday the fire was classified as out of control. According to the BC Wildfire Service, the fire is not threatening communities or structures; however, smoke is highly visible from Highway 93, Baynes Lake, Newgate, Jaffray and surrounding communities. …Including this fire, there are a total of eight wildfires burning in the Southeast Fire Centre, however the 55KM Linklater FSR is the only one that is burning an area of over one hectare.

Between 80 and 100 firefighters are battling an out-of-control wildfire near the town of Bonnyville in northeastern Alberta. The Municipal District of Bonnyville says on its Facebook page that the fire started Monday evening west of the town along a range road between highways 28 and 660. The flames erupted in a ditch and spread rapidly due to tinder dry conditions in the Moose Lake forest area. There is no immediate word on the size of the blaze, which is moving in a southeasterly direction, but no evacuation order has been issued. Officials say natural barriers that include the lake are protecting the community of some 6,000, about 240 kilometres northeast of Edmonton. Six fixed-wing aircraft, three helicopters and a dozen fire trucks are aiding firefighters. [END]

High Level, Alberta — …The Dempsters were among 4,000 people eager to get home, including residents of the surrounding areas of Mackenzie County and the Dene Tha’ First Nation communities of Bushe River, Meander River and Chateh, after hearing the news Sunday they would be able to return — albeit it with the knowledge they need to be prepared to leave again if fire conditions change. Scattered rain and cooler temperatures helped give fire crews time to contain the flames in key places leading into Monday. …But there are still three active wildfires in the High Level forest area. …Hundreds of kilometres away to the southeast of High Level, another cluster of out-of-control fires in the Slave Lake forest area saw minimal growth, according to the province. …And even with the cautions, High Level residents started pouring into the town early Monday morning.

As wildfires continue to burn hundreds of acres of Alberta forest, one expert is warning that the worst is yet to come and the increase in fires may be due to the province’s long history of fire suppression. “We have done such a good job of suppressing fires for so long that we have a lot of trees in our forest. In the arboreal forest, those trees are born to burn,” said Edward Zruski with the Institute for Energy and Environment Policy at Queen’s University.  “They can’t regrow unless there’s a fire there to open up their cones and throw out the seeds.  Sruzki said Alberta has seen a doubling in the number of wildfires since the 1970s and officials predict another doubling — possibly more — by mid-century. “Everything that the forecasters have been telling us, you know, 20 years ago, 10 years ago, is coming to fruition now,” Sruzki said.

Jason Kenney

With 10,000 people displaced and 16 homes destroyed by Alberta’s wildfires so far this year, Premier Jason Kenney found himself answering questions Friday about his government’s decision to kill the carbon tax the day prior. With the tax gone, his government is still committed to a levy on major industrial emitters and a technology and research fund to focus on reducing emissions. Asked whether the wildfires can be linked to climate change, Kenney said: “I think the reason for any particular forest fire is often complex.” Kenney said climate change is real, and that it can “prolong the dry season and things like that,” though he also said that North America experienced “huge forest fires” before there was human activity. Such fires would “replace dead wood and fuel and old forests with regenerative forests,” he said. 

The Alberta government said hot, dry and windy conditions fueling the northern wildfires aren’t going away soon and will make fighting them difficult, so people need to prepare themselves. “This fight is going to be a tough one,” said Devin Dreeshen, Alberta’s minister of agriculture and forestry. “The weather is not co-operating for the long-distance forecast for the next two weeks. It’s more of the same.” “Albertans need to prepare themselves for this situation for the foreseeable future.” Federal Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale says Alberta has asked for Canadian Forces assistance and the federal government has accepted the request. Goodale says the military will be ready to help airlift evacuees as needed, as well as transport supplies and provide medical assistance.

As wildfires continue to burn hundreds of acres of Alberta forest, one expert is warning that the worst is yet to come and the increase in fires may be due to the province’s long history of fire suppression. “We have done such a good job of suppressing fires for so long that we have a lot of trees in our forest. In the arboreal forest, those trees are born to burn,” said Edward Zruski with the Institute for Energy and Environment Policy at Queen’s University. “They can’t regrow unless there’s a fire there to open up their cones and throw out the seeds. “You drive from Jasper to Banff and you see stands of 80- to 100-year-old trees and they’re just waiting to burn and many of them are dead as well because of the mountain pine beetle.”

The Alberta government says wildfires raging across the northern part of the province have forced about 10,000 people from their homes. The updated figure was provided Thursday afternoon, after a day of hot temperatures and gusty winds led to the explosive growth of several blazes burning out-of-control. About 5,000 people have been out of their homes in and around High Level for more than a week. …People in Slave Lake… have been told to be prepared to leave with eight hours notice because of a fire that the mayor says is burning about 30 kilometres away. Smoke from the fires enveloped points south, including Edmonton, in a thick, acrid, haze that limited visibility and made it difficult to breathe. The government said weather forecasts for the next two weeks will make fighting the fires difficult.

The BC Wildfire Service is responding to several wildfires within the Cassiar Fire Zone of the Northwest Fire Centre and is preparing for potential new wildfire activity in the region, due to higher-than-normal temperatures and drought conditions. Three new wildfires started this week in the Cassiar Fire Zone. Firefighting crews are also continuing to work on holdover fires associated with the 2018 Alkali Lake fire and the 2018 Schaft Creek fire. A holdover fire (or overwintering fire) can occur when a wildfire that burned deep underground last year continues to smoulder all winter long. Some residual hotspots can emerge with the arrival of warmer and drier weather. …Hot and dry weather, high to extreme fire danger ratings and all-time-high drought codes in some areas of the Cassiar Fire Zone are a concern for the Northwest Fire Centre. 

Fires that are deliberately set and controlled could save West Kelowna from a devastating conflagration in the future, members of city council say. So-called prescribed burns… will be lit to better fire-proof the community even though councillors know the practice could be controversial. Some people may not like the smoke produced by deliberately set fires and they may worry about the potential of deliberately set blazes to get out of control, Coun. Doug Findlater said. …Fire Chief Jason Brolund outlined the ways in which the department will attempt to reduce the wildfire risk in West Kelowna, working on both public land and — for the first time — on select private properties….Twenty grants of $500 each will also be available.

As wildfires continue to rage in northern Alberta, and prompting more evacuation orders on Wednesday, the provincial government has officially declared the situation both a public emergency and a disaster. The public emergency order was declared by Alberta’s agriculture and forestry minister while the disaster order was declared by the municipal affairs minister. The orders, declared under Section 7 of the Fiscal Planning and Transparency Act, were prompted by what the government called the “extraordinary losses, damages and costs, including prevention, presuppression, suppression, reclamation and reforestation costs, resulting from wildfires” this year. The government also cited the emergency response costs. …According to Alberta Wildfire, there were 25 active wildfires across the province as of 10 a.m. on Wednesday. Of those, six had been sparked in the last 24 hours and seven were considered to be out of control.

CALGARY—Smoke from wildfires is going to be a big issue for Albertans again this summer, according to one meteorologist. While Alberta is shaping up to have mostly average temperatures and precipitation, the northern part of the province could be drier. …On top of that, a jet stream is expected to push potential wildfire smoke from British Columbia into Alberta. “Wildfire smoke is going to be a big story, I think, for the province of Alberta this summer,” said Kelly Sonnenburg, a meteorologist with The Weather Network. …“The wildfire (season) is already off to a fairly strong start in northern Alberta. That, along with B.C. for this summer, is not an ideal pattern. We are going to have to watch out for the threat for more wildfires, and certainly, for more smoke as well.”

…Zac Robinson, a mountain historian at the University of Alberta and former U of A mountain ecologist David Hik decided wildfires were going to be the main focus of the Alpine Club of Canada’s 2019 State of the Mountains Report. In its second year, the annual report is a collection of expert summaries written to raise awareness about the ways a changing climate is transforming the alpine. The pair, along with fellow editor Lael Parrott, reached out to Lori Daniels, a University of British Columbia conservation researcher, to write an essay on the vital role wildfire has on ecosystem function and how that understanding has exposed shortcomings of past fire suppression and timber production, and how “learning to coexist with wildfire is critical as our society adapts to climate change.”

A fire burning near a northern Alberta town has grown slightly, but officials say firefighters are making good progress. The Chuckegg Creek fire, currently the largest in the province, is about three kilometres southwest of High Level, where crews have been creating a fire break to protect the town. “We are still experiencing the main area of spread away from the town of High Level,” Alberta Wildfire information officer Victoria Ostendorf said Tuesday afternoon. “The wind has actually been in our favor and allowed us to make great progress on the fire guard… It’s enabled our firefighters to work safely.” Ostendorf explained the active fire is now pushing back on an area that’s already been burned so there’s no substantial fuel for it to grow.

A wildfire burning near Haines Junction, Yukon, grew to 137 hectares Monday morning. The fire, burning out of control approximately nine kilometres north of the village, is being driven by winds blowing north out of the Alsek Valley, said Mike Fancie, a spokesperson for Yukon Wildland Fire Management. “So long as that wind holds in that direction, which we’re confident that it will right now, the danger to the community is quite low,” he said. “If the wind changes, that will be a different story.” Fancie said the fire does not threaten people or property. He said helicopters are dropping water on the edge of the fire nearest to Haines Junction while heavy equipment and 20 firefighters battle the blaze on the ground.

Heavy smoke is expected to blanket northern Alberta as crews hope a fire guard cut around High Level continues to protect the town. Mandatory evacuation orders expanded to include the community of Paddle Prairie on Sunday, officially displacing 490 more people from their homes. Many residents had already voluntarily left the community 70 kilometres south of High Level. Sunday was a tense day for fire crews battling the Chuckegg Creek fire southwest of High Level as a shift in wind direction and change in weather conditions put a week’s worth of preparation to the test. The temperature in High Level peaked at 23 C on Sunday afternoon, according to Environment Canada. The agency’s forecast predicted a high of 26 C on Monday and 30 C on Tuesday. …The fire conditions will remain extreme until the area receives rain, Elliott warned.

As British Columbia’s wildfire season heats up, a petition calling for a provincewide open burning ban is starting to gain ground. Cambria Volonte, who lives in Cariboo Region town of Bridge Lake, started the petition two weeks ago as more and more fires started sparking across the Interior. The petition gained 1,000 supporters in a little more than a week and now boasts nearly 1,700 signatures, which Volonte says speaks to how rational the idea is. “We don’t need to be having campfires in backcountry,” she said on Sunday. “There’s propane firepits, there’s plenty of ways to enjoy the experience in a safer way. …While the number of human-caused wildfires so far this year is cause for concern, Fire information officer ErinCatherall clarified that only two of those 184 fires were sparked by campfires, and there are plenty of other ways humans can cause a blaze.