Category Archives: Wildfire Resilience & Awareness Week

If you live and work in BC, it is important to plan and be prepared for wildfires threatening communities, services, and forests, and be ready to evacuate without much notice. Wildfires can spread quickly so you likely will not have much time to get ready if an evacuation is ordered. Being prepared will not only improve a workplace’s response in the event of an emergency, but also will aid in the recovery after a fire. Your local municipalities and regional districts have a lot of excellent information on how to prepare for the risks of a wildfire and the protocols in place if there is a wildfire in or near the community. So, check their websites for information. In addition to any local guidelines, this article includes some points you could consider.

British Columbia’s forests are increasingly on fire—and the consequences are catastrophic. As we approach another fire season, communities, ecosystems, and livelihoods are at growing risk. In this crisis, BC is Burning, a new two part documentary, offers both a wake-up call and a beacon of hope. The film explores fuel loading, carbon emissions, proactive forest management and the need for a shift from suppression to increasing proactive prevention activities, offering solutions to reduce the mega-fires that are becoming all too common. … The core message of BC is Burning is the importance of active forest management. By managing forest landscapes… we can reduce fuel loads and prevent catastrophic fires. … BC is Burning is more than just a documentary—it calls for collective action. …become part of the conversation. Together, we can turn the tide on wildfires and ensure that our forests—and our future—remain safe and resilient.

Filmed during British Columbia’s worst fire season on record, this timely series parachutes you onto the frontlines as it follows the brave men and women fighting to protect communities from the escalating threat of wildfires. With unprecedented access, it documents the magnitude of modern megafires, examines why we’re in such a volatile tinderbox situation and shares the latest understanding about wildfire prevention. Five episodes launch on Knowledge on April 22, 2025 and run through May 20. A preview is available here.

In the past five years, more of B.C. has burned than in the previous 50. Extreme fire behaviour and activity are becoming increasingly common, wildfire is now one of the most pressing issues on the planet. Thompson Rivers University (TRU) is seeking to address this challenge through TRU Wildfire, an initiative that includes a partnership with the BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) and aims to help society better prevent, prepare for and respond to wildfires. Premier David Eby announced this unique partnership between TRU and the BC Wildfire Service in response to the unprecedented impact of wildfire on B.C. communities. It’s the first established one-to-one partnership between a fire management agency and a university in North America. TRU has worked with BCWS on three major outcomes. … Together, TRU and BCWS are working to find meaningful solutions to this very pressing challenge and it’s going to be transformative as we move forward.

At URSA, our wildfire crews are an extension of who we are: hardworking, reliable, and committed to protecting the people and places we care about. When wildfires threaten communities and landscapes across British Columbia, our crews step forward with professionalism, training, and an intense focus on safety. We take pride in being a trusted part of the wildfire response system. It’s not a job we take lightly, and it’s a responsibility we’re committed to doing well, every time we’re called to the line. Every wildfire season, our crews represent URSA in high-pressure and often unpredictable environments. That’s why we put such a strong emphasis on professionalism. …Our teams understand that their presence on the fire line reflects more than just their own work ethic. It reflects our company’s culture and values. We show up prepared, focused, and respectful of the communities we serve and the partners we work with.

Líl̓wat Forestry Ventures (LFV) is a leading forestry management corporation that operates within the Líl̓wat Nation in Mount Currie, British Columbia. What began as a small woodlot has grown into an operation that now manages nearly 75 percent of the Nation’s territory. Through this expansion, LFV provides local employment opportunities while honouring traditional knowledge and practices that promote wildfire resiliency. The video, ‘We Work Together with the Land’, created in collaboration with the BC Community Forest Association and the Ministry of Forests, showcases LFV’s proactive wildfire risk reduction efforts and further emphasizes the importance of a forest management approach that considers multiple values – cultural, ecological, social, and economic. Klay Tindall, General Manager of LFV, Hayden Leo, Forestry Technician, and Jordon Gabriel, Lead Forestry Technician, shared insights into the innovative practices and holistic approach that LFV employs, highlighting the importance of collaboration for effective and sustainable forest management.

To learn more about LFV’s work and their efforts to mitigate wildfire risk to community, watch the full video here: https://youtu.be/B3OjtdTojhg?si=j7wXMwJmCJHlvFFM

At MacLeod Forest Services, our primary business focus is providing training and response services to a variety of customers. This includes our S100 Wildfire for Industry Program. Our aim is to provide timely, achievable, effective, up to date and cost-efficient wildfire instruction to all stakeholders that have the potential to be affected by a wildfire. By staying involved in response we can continually improve our products and services as changing conditions require. We have provided training to stakeholders from First Nations crews, the Forest, Agriculture, Outdoor Recreational and Construction Industries, Type 2 and 3 Wildfire Contractors, BC Wildfire Service crews as well as rural residents. The MacLeod S100 for Industry is a two-day BCWS S100 course enhanced to better prepare participants to be on their own until organized help arrives. Upon completion participants will be able to: assess wildfires accurately; develop an appropriate plan; and respond safely and effectively. Course runs April 29-30, 2025.

In 2023 there were 41 wildfires on Mosaic’s land base, including the one at Cameron Bluffs. 70% of those were human caused. Person-caused wildfires—like those started by a discarded cigarette, an improperly extinguished campfire, or arson—continue to cause the most fires and the most damage on Vancouver Island. They often occur close to where people live and travel. This was the case with the Cameron Bluffs wildfire, which began near Port Alberni, B.C. in June, 2023 and grew to be over 200 hectares… The wildfire started from a small, unattended campfire during a fire ban and resulted in dire effects for surrounding communities including the closure of a major highway connecting Port Alberni and parts of the West Coast to the rest of the Island. Initially shut down for weeks due to safety concerns, the highway also faced intermittent closures throughout the summer tourist season, leading to local economic losses estimated at $60 million.

Last year’s wildfire season in BC was the most destructive on record, with 2.8 million hectares burned—more than double any previous year. The fires caused significant disruption to the work and lives of many people in BC, and the impact was felt strongly by those in the forest industry. Evacuations and alerts, oppressive smoke, high heat, area closures, and lack of access to industry critical resources, including helicopters, were among the many challenges faced by the industry. …The forestry sector is vital to BC’s economy, and its workforce is the backbone of the industry. It’s crucial for forestry workers to understand wildfire risks and management to ensure their safety and the safety of forestry operations. Equipping forestry workers with the necessary skills they need to prepare themselves for the prevention, and/or mitigation wildfires is essential.

With the growing threat of climate change and wildfire risk, ‘Fire Week’ presents a timely opportunity to raise awareness and highlight successful fire resilience projects led by partners throughout British Columbia. I think it’s important to begin by taking a closer look and recognize that successful landscape-level wildfire risk reduction starts right in our own backyard. Making changes to the area closest to your home, and to your home itself, can have a significant impact to reduce risk in the face of a wildfire. This isn’t to downplay the success and valuable work of hundreds of projects we’ve invested in but rather to emphasize the opportunity for even greater impact through improved coordination between programs such as FireSmart, the First Nations’ Emergency Services Society of BC, and the Crown Land Wildfire Risk Reduction Program. The Forest Enhancement Society of BC has a unique role in helping facilitate these efforts.