Since 2016… billions of dollars have been lost to firefighting and property damage in British Columbia. Both timber supply and ecosystems have been devastated. Wildfire smoke now casts an eerie pall over B.C. summers. …Fire experts tell us that when industrial forestry abolished Indigenous-controlled burning, it set the stage for the recent catastrophic wildfires. …Part of the solution is to recognize ancient wisdom, and to “fight fire with fire.” Modern fire ecologists recognize this, and now widely prescribe controlled burning to create fire breaks and reduce forest fuels. …B.C. is now expanding prescribed burning, and has begun pilot projects with First Nations to restore cultural burning. But we lag far behind Australia and the United States. …While the BC Wildfire Service has limited programs… we urgently need to expand the training system. …Second, we need to reduce legal liability of certified prescribed-fire practitioners. [To access the full story, a Globe and Mail subscription is required]