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.