A midsized municipality, heavily dependent on one industry, north of most of the province’s population, has plenty of suburban neighbourhoods surrounded entirely by forests – and that has officials worried.
That was the motivation for a symposium in Whistler on forest fires today, as different stakeholders met to talk about the threat of interface wildfires.
“Certainly, events like Fort McMurray, but even as early as 2003 with the Kelowna fires, started people talking and thinking about it, but definitely momentum is building,” said Whistler Fire Chief Geoff Playfair.
In Whistler, homes built with cedar roofs sit right in the forest, often loaded with fuels on the front porch. The concern here is a house fire spreading quickly.
“Since 2008, we’re working on probably our 5th or 6th unit where we’ve thinned the vegetation next to the home, with the hope we can mitigate a fire spreading from a house fire into the forest,” said Bruce Blackwell, a professional forester, who spoke about the traditional and modern use of controlled burns to mitigate wildfire threats.
A wet June has taken the edge off the fire ratings so far this summer – but all that can turn with a week of scorching temperatures.
READ MORE: B.C. readies for warmer-than-average summer
“It’s definitely going to start drying out,” said Eric Meyer of the BC Wildfire Service, during a conference call to discuss the snow pack and fire situation across B.C.
“We’re asking the public to be very cautious with any activities in the forest because it won’t take much for a fire to get up and started and take off on them.”
– With files from The Canadian Press
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