On May 9, 2024, the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) detected the first significant wildfire in northern British Columbia. This prompted the evacuation of thousands of people from the community of Fort Nelson.
According to the BC Wildfire Service, many of the fires are holdover fires from 2023, meaning a fire that has remained dormant and/or undetected for a considerable period of time after it starts. A CAMS media release from May 16 stated that: "Wildfire emissions in BC are at the highest levels in May 2024 in comparison to any May in the 22 years of the CAMS Global Fire Assimilation System (GFAS) data set."
Since then, so far, the BC Wildfire Service dashboard indicates there are currently 356 active wildfires in BC, with 128 categorized as out of control and 20 evacuation orders currently in place. Although most of the wildfires are happening fairly far away from BC's coastal communities, including the qathet region, experts in the field of wildfires believe there are ways to mitigate the possibility of it happening here.
Wildfires are and have been a part of the coastal forest environment for thousands of years, but, the last hundred years or so, fire suppression practices exacerbated by climate change, along with building communities close to forested areas, has increased the risk of wildfires.
Although BC's coast and the qathet region have been fairly wildfire free, qathet Regional District FireSmart coordinator Marc Albert said there are potential threats of forest fires in this region, although the severity would be influenced by many factors such as wind, slope and what type of landscape it is burning in.
"Both lightning and human-caused fires are ignition risks in our region," said Albert. "Overall, provincially but not always locally, the primary factors [for wildfires] are climate change (increased extreme weather events and increased lightning), forest health issues, history of aggressive and highly effective wildfire suppression in wildlands adapted to fire, and the outlawing of cultural burning."
Retired BC Forest Service fire ecologist John Parminter wrote in the Journal of Ecosystems and Management (JEM) about First Nations' prescribed burning practices.
"The Indigenous peoples of British Columbia have a long and deep tradition of cultural burning,” said Parminter. “It was an important component of many of BC’s ecosystems until colonial authorities systematically discouraged the practice from the 1870s onwards."
One often overlooked factor, by folks living in urban areas, is what their home is made out of.
"The primary factor in why we are seeing urban wildfire disasters like Jasper is that many of our homes are too easily ignitable," said Albert. "From my point of view wildfire risk mitigation is a shared responsibility by local and provincial governments [where they can] mitigate fuels in forests to reduce intensity."
Albert said fires still can occur but with reduced intensity of potential embers cast into adjacent neighbourhoods. But it's not only up to individuals and governments to reduce fire risks.
"Forest licensees and other managed forests should be looking at ways to reduce potential severity in their forests near neighbourhoods," said Albert. "Fire departments and the BC Wildfire Service train and equip themselves to be able to respond to wildfires effectively."
Being evacuated from one's home and community is a terrifying scenario for most people. For those who are currently out of their homes or have lost their homes due to wildfires, it is a traumatic life event.
Would an evacuation order ever happen in the qathet region and if so, what would that look like?
"In the event of an out of control wildfire, variables like proximity to homes, weather, topography, landscape conditions and fire behaviour would affect the need for the BC Wildfire Service to recommend an evacuation or not," said Albert. "In our region the likelihood of a wildfire severe enough to initiate an evacuation of the whole mainland from Saltery Bay to Lund is pretty low."
Albert said the more likely scenario would be a neighbourhood scale evacuation.
"I typically recommend that residents build a grab-and-go bag, and put a copy of the FireSmart last-minute evacuation checklist on their fridge," said Albert. "Make evacuation pre-plans to stay with friends or family in a different neighbourhood, to avoid having to stay at less ideal accommodations, and sign up for the qRD's community notification system."
qathet Regional District, as part of its FireSmart Program, offers home assessments, education tools and community evacuation guides on the qRD website at qathet.ca. Find each neighbourhood's guide, here: qathet.ca/services/emergency-services/emergency-preparedness/personal-neighbourhood-preparedness/.
How to FireSmart your Home with Regional FireSmart Coordinator, Marc Albert, can be found at youtu.be/4H6LV7n11RA.
Join the Peak’s email list for the top headlines right in your inbox Monday to Friday.
