As wildfires turn large swaths of forests into seas of charred spires, wildfire experts say the blackened blotches on the B.C. landscape can have a lasting effect reducing fire risk and severity. Mike Flannigan, a wildfire researcher at Thompson Rivers University, said historic wildfire scars have less fuels available, meaning fires will burn less intensely and can be used as a break to slow the spread of a raging wildfire. “Because it’s lower intensity, fire management can manage it effectively and suppress it as opposed to a running crown fire, which they can’t,” Flannigan said. “When things are really extreme, really hot, dry and windy, it will burn through, but it generally will be lower intensity, so you can still manage it more effectively than if it was in a forest.”