B.C. wildfires: Turn your attention to your backyard, Okanagan fire chiefs warn

From his front-line view of a wildfire burning far north of his home, Peachland Fire Department chief Dennis Craig had one piece of advice for people who may be worried about the season ahead.

“It all begins, even what we do here, from the home and working your way out,”  Craig said.

“It’s not going to work, looking two or three kilometres from your house and saying, ‘That is where the fire risk is.’ It’s that 10 metres around your house that make all the difference in the world.”

Craig is in the middle of a two-week shift with BC Wildfire in Fort St. John, where a wildfire burns out of control.

An evacuation alert was issued this week for its roughly 21,000 residents in response to a wildfire that’s more than 130 square kilometres in size.

The British Columbia Wildfire Service hopes calmer winds in the province’s northeast will give it some reprieve to assess the blazes.

1:38 Alberta wildfires: Fire causes major damage in Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation

That fire is the largest of 61 active fires in the province, 10 of which have started in the last 10 hours.

With the heat wave and other areas already dealing with fires, it’s understandable that locals are concerned.

“With climate change and with our seasons being more severe each year, we’re always here,” Craig said. “This year we didn’t get as much recovery as we’d like to …  in October we had that flash freeze, with -20 C days, and the ground froze solid. When the snow came it didn’t get a way to (soak in).”

0:31 Prescribed burn near Peachland called successful

That said, June will be what decides how the season ahead goes, in terms of fires. If there’s a lot of rain, it could be fine. If not, it’s important to be fire smart.

In Peachland, Craig said there are three dedicated fire-smart workers on staff, an increase from the part-time employee last year. They can help people understand what needs to be done to keep their homes safe.

He also said that keeping a perimeter of 10 metres of debris-free space around a home makes a big difference. That means trees, bushes and other incendiary items should fall outside that perimeter.

West Kelowna’s fire chief Jason Brolund has the same message, and on Saturday the fire department held Fire Smart Family Day at the Okanagan Highway fire hall, offering more information on how to keep a home fire safe.

1:52 Alberta wildfire explains fire triangle: topography, weather and fuels

That said, fire mitigation work is ongoing and in the spring they were busy clearing potentially troublesome areas.

“There will always be work to do,” he said.

Tuesday, however, the good news was that local conditions weren’t as bad as they were in Northern B.C. days before the event.

“But we are always concerned,” Brolund said. “Our fire danger rating is something we start watching very closely in the spring and have an eye on it as we progress in the season.”

“We’re expecting hot weather and a drying trend in the coming week and the weather reports we’re getting are for another warm summer … our level of preparedness is growing .”

Already the province is on alert.

“At this time, our concern about elevated temperatures throughout British Columbia is its impact to flooding and wildfire conditions,” Minister of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness Bowinn Ma told Global News last week.

“If there is a risk to human health, we do have the ability to issue broadcast intrusive alerts but at this time, our concern about the elevated temperatures is its impact on snowmelt, which could increase flooding risk and its impact on wildfire risk as well.”