Less Talking, More Burning

Author: Kyle Broome (RPF, BSc), Wildfire Division Manager & Partner at Cabin Resource Management

The time for planning has passed – we need wildland fire on the landscape, now!

I have an internal yearning to quote the millions of hectares burned or 100’s of millions spent on suppression or the billions in structure and timber losses, but what will be gained by re-writing them down and having you re-read them for the umpteenth time? We saw these seemingly catastrophic numbers in the 2003 Firestorm. We saw it again in Slave Lake and then Fort McMurray. And, here we are in 2023, rewriting historical norms with wildfire metrics.

First some history on the wildfire planning end of things. The Province retained the services of the Right Honourable Gary Filmon to create the Firestorm 2003 Provincial Review. This was followed up by the Canadian Wildland Fire Strategy put forth by the Canadian Council of Forest Ministers in 2005. This plan was updated in 2016. In 2017, the province drafted the Freshet and Wildfire After Action Review. And, most recently the Forest Practices Board drafted the Forest and Fire Management in BC: Toward Landscape Resilience. In the context of wildfire management, plans are required but the proverbial rubber hits the road, or skidder tires hit the forest floor when plans are implemented.

If you will allow a little alchemy, I propose the following: like the elements water, earth, and air certain ecosystems require fire to maintain their resiliency. The longer this key ecosystem element is removed, the greater the threat to our forests, communities, and lives. This threat is compounded by climate change, development in the interface, and policy decisions. The only viable solution is the reintroduction of fire at a landscape scale.

How the heck do this? Well, I am here to tell you standing on my gilded soap box….or is it sitting in my comfy armchair…I don’t know…

Incorporate Indigenous knowledge of local Fire Keepers into landscape-level wildfire implementation. 14,000 years of living with fire and these ecosystems lends itself to an understanding beyond empiricism and the scientific method. Indigenous Fire Keeper knowledge is invaluable and necessary for wildland fire reintroduction at scale.

Revisit regulations around the use of wildland fire. Changes to the Wildfire Act and Regulation made post-2003 were done to ensure that we could hold humans to account for human-cause ignitions. However, we scared every practicing professional into a place where fire is no longer a tool used by wildfire professionals or silviculture foresters alike. We need to change the regulations to allow for the safe reintroduction of fire. This involves a relook at the OBSCR.

Start burning! We need to reintroduce prescribed fire back into ecosystems to enhance resiliency. That’s it, ‘nuff said. Well, it is way easier to say than to do when we have 100+ years of fuel accumulations, climate change and an increased number of humans in the interface. In spite of these challenges, we have to start somewhere and start burning some larger areas.

Retrain Forest Professionals on the safe use of wildland fire. This used to be the norm for site preparation in certain areas of the province, now no one does it. BCWS retains all the Burn Boss training and Fire Centre Managers have to sign off on all Burn Plans. If we need to burn more, we need more burn bosses and they all can’t be from BCWS. This includes both prescribed fire and pile burning for fuel modification.

We need more investment in mitigation and prevention work. It is better and has been for at least the last 5 – 7 years with FESBC and the WRR program; however, the amount invested is still an order of magnitude less than suppression.

Rethink how we run and administrate the BC Wildfire Service. This is a big one. Huge some would say but not recognizing the elephant in the room does no one any favors. Reduce the bureaucracy and ensure that decision-makers and leaders have operational experience. Reduce the restrictions on procurement to allow for the system to be more nimble. For example, make the tender process easier so that more hectares can be treated quicker. Look for help outside the union for fire fighters i.e. First Nation crews, local community crews and/or more contract Type III and Type II.

Let’s get burning!