A wildfire expert says rapid detection and initial action to tackle fire starts is important as climate change spurs the hot, dry conditions which result in more intense fires. Mike Flannigan, wildfire researcher at Thompson Rivers University, was one of two presenters who spoke on the future of wildfires in B.C. during the Southern Interior Local Government Association conference Thursday. “In terms of impacts, B.C. is at the pointy end of the spear. We’ve been hit by freight trains in 2017, 2018, 2021, 2023,” Flannigan said. “Yes, we’re going to get hit by more freight trains — and they’re going to be more intense, more frequent.” Flannigan said extreme fire weather — hot, dry, windy days with lots of lightning — is the “key driver” of the increase in wildfires. While the number of human-caused fires are decreasing, last year, more than 70 per cent of B.C.’s wildfires were caused by lightning.

CHETWYND — The debate over the relocation of the Northern Initial Attack in Chetwynd continues. The Peace River Regional District has written a letter to Minister of Forests Bruce Ralston in support of reinstating the base. Bruce Ralston confirmed the closure of the facility and its staff lodging on December 15^th, 2023 in a letter addressed to the Chetwynd Mayor Allen Courtoreille and city council. Since then, there has been mounting pressure from mayors across the Peace Region. In early February, Hudson’s Hope and Tumbler Ridge supported Chetwynd in condemning the move to relocate crews to Dawson Creek saying it could double response times in the community and surrounding district. The concerns surrounding response times continue to mount. PRRD chair Brad Sperling citied the BC Wildfire Service, who say 94 per cent of new wildfires are suppressed by initial attack crews.

‘The Last Logging Show: A Forestry Family at the End of an Era,’ is a newly published book from Harbour Publishing. The book follows Williams, a third-generation logger who has mostly found employment elsewhere, as he treks to Haida Gwaii to embed with a mostly aging workforce and document the twilight of conventional logging as a new set of possibilities opens in B.C.’s forests. Excerpt: …In North America, falling is second only to fishing in terms of danger. For most of his career Dave has made his odds worse by doing a difficult sub-species of the job known as right-of-way falling. This is the falling done to open up new roads to new cutblocks. Fallers working in a cutblock quickly create an opening in the canopy — a safer space — into which most other trees are felled. On a right-of-way, an open space is never achieved. 

A group of residents on the Sunshine Coast is voicing concern about the fire risk posed by 200 slash piles that were supposed to be cleaned up by now. The piles of wood debris were left by logging companies… near to the town of Egmont, B.C., in 2022 and 2023. In a letter addressed to Minister of Forests Bruce Ralston, Powell River-Sunshine Coast MLA Nicholas Simmons and Premier David Eby, the residents say the slash piles are in places where accidental ignition is a real fear. …North Lake resident Marcia Thomson said in community consultations with B.C. Timber Sales and the shíshálh Nation, co-managers of the timber licences, residents were assured that fire mitigation would take place and the slash burned off during the rainy season. But … the group has been informed by the shíshálh Nation that the piles will remain through a second summer because the window to burn has closed.

The Province is working with the Regional District of North Okanagan, District of Lake Country and the Okanagan Indian Band to protect the primary water source for Lake Country and the Greater Vernon area from the risk of wildfire. “Many people in the Okanagan depend on the North Aberdeen Plateau for their drinking water,” said Bruce Ralston, Minister of Forests. “We know that the risk of a wildfire in the area could have very real impacts on the water people depend on…” The North Aberdeen Plateau hosts critical natural resources and is a high priority for wildfire mitigation. Through $15 million from the Ministry of Forests, a team will begin planning and implementing fire-mitigation prescriptions to protect water, water infrastructure and cultural heritage values in the North Aberdeen Plateau. This is a multi-year, multi-phase project, with phase 1 beginning immediately. 

Additional coverage in Black Press: Project protects Okanagan watersource from wildfires