Shuswap residents brace for wildfire season amid investigation
When the wildfires around the North Shuswap region first started in July 2023, Jim Cooperman wasn't too concerned - they were kilo‐ metres away from his Lee Creek home.
But day by day, the fires spread, inching toward the communities along Shuswap Lake, about 60 kilometres northeast of Kamloops, B.C. The hot and dry summer conditions didn't help.
Then came August 17 the day the B.C. Wildfire Ser‐ vice (BCWS) performed a planned ignition in hopes of stopping forecasted winds from blowing the flames di‐ rectly into the lakefront com‐ munities.
"We find out that the wild‐ fire service is planning to do a backburn, which is a 10kilometre-long aerial ignition which is just two kilometres from our house - and just pri‐ or to a wind storm. We were all totally freaked out," he re‐ called.
Cooperman has been one of the loudest critics of the B.C. Wildfire Service's plan‐ ned ignition, which occurred hours before the flames trav‐ elled to Lee Creek, Scotch Creek and Celista, burning through more than 170 homes and structures. Critics believe it exacerbated the wildfire.
"You don't light a fire in a drought before a windstorm, but they decided to do it," he said.
What followed were days of tension and anxiety in the North Shuswap, as many res‐ idents stayed behind to fight fires themselves, despite provincial officials telling them to leave.
The BCWS stands by its decision to light the planned ignition, which it says suc‐ cessfully reduced fuels in the area. The ignition is under in‐ vestigation by B.C.'s Forest Practices Board.
Eight months later - and at the dawn of a new wildfire season - many residents say wounds of that wildfire sea‐ son are still fresh. For some, trust in the BCWS has been eroded, while others make preparations to once again stay behind in the event of future wildfires.
"The fire has really brought the community to‐ gether. We call it Shuswap strong," said Cooperman. "The North Shuswap people are resilient."
The province says there will be more collaboration with locals in the event of fu‐ ture wildfire seasons. Planned ignition
The Lower East Adams Lake and Bush Creek East wildfires ignited via lightning strike in mid-July. Their im‐ pact on humans was minimal until they started rapidly moving toward communities along the North Shuswap about a month later, ac‐ cording to the BCWS.
On August 17, the BCWS made the decision to light a planned ignition, or back‐ burn, "out of necessity."
"The wildfire had broken through existing fire guards and the region was about to experience some of the most unfavourable weather condi‐ tions of the season," wrote service spokesperson Forrest Tower in a statement.
The backburn was lit along a 10-kilometre stretch of power lines meant to serve as a control line, or barrier, to stop the fire from spreading.
The service contends the move successfully reduced fuels and slowed the growth of fire.
"It cannot be overstated: the purpose of this planned ignition was to reduce this wildfire's impact on the com‐ munity, not to stop it from burning all together," wrote Tower.
Residents believe the igni‐ tion exacerbated both wild‐ fires, which eventually merged, and led to the rapid approach of the flames to‐ ward communities. Com‐ plaints have led to an on‐ going Forest Practices Board investigation of the ignition.
Following the burn, wild‐ fire fighters also raised safety concerns about the incident to the B.C. General Employ‐ ees Union, the union con‐ firmed to CBC News. Evacuation orders
Mark Acton, whose family runs a marina in Scotch Creek, says he watched as fires raced down the moun‐ tainside from where the backburn had been lit.
"[The BCWS] definitely needs to come to our com‐ munity and acknowledge what actually happened. Come and have a recap," he said.
Acton was among a group of Scotch Creek residents who sprung into action to save homes and businesses as the fires tore through the area.
"We rigged up all of our trucks - we had four water trucks ready to go, an excava‐ tor, two loaders, all hands on deck," he said.
As evacuation orders rolled in, Acton and many others stayed behind. At the time, provincial officials char‐ acterized their efforts as dan‐ gerous and against the law. There were reports of conflict between residents, wildfire
crews, and police maintain‐ ing evacuation lines.
Acton says residents sim‐ ply wanted to save their com‐ munity and were prepared to do so.
"At the time of the evacua‐ tion order, a lot of people do need to leave," he said. "But anyone that's actually able and willing to help, and they have the assets and the equipment, and they know this area - nobody knows the bush in their backyards bet‐ ter than the locals."
"If the locals did not stay, this town would be in a whole lot worse shape," said Acton.
On April 4, while announc‐ ing recommendations made by a wildfire expert task force, B.C. Premier David Eby acknowledged Shuswap lo‐ cals had saved structures.
"My understanding is that they did protect a number of homes in the community. This resulted in conflict that we're really hoping to avoid in the upcoming fire season," said Eby. "When there's an emergency, we don't want to be dealing with conflict on the ground. We want to be working together as a unified whole."
Among the task force's recommendations are more collaboration and communi‐ cation with residents in fireaffected communities.
Preparing for the next wildfire season
Karl Bischoff is among those preparing for another potentially destructive wild‐ fire season. The Magna Bay resident fought the fire on its easternmost flank, right on the edge of his property.
"We had about probably 30 to 40 guys on both sides with about a dozen pickups and big water trucks and whatever, and we chased it for nine days before the [BCWS crews] showed up," he recalled.
"The part we find disturb‐ ing is they don't have enough soldiers to fight the war. So just call upon us - it's so sim‐ ple. And we have lots of knowledge," he added.
Bischoff, a lifelong North Shuswap resident, is organiz‐ ing provincially-certified S100 Basic Fire Suppression and Safety training for a group of residents in the community.
He says the goal is to put together a citizens fire brigade, should wildfires oc‐ cur in the remaining forests in the area in future seasons.
"We see smoke, no strings attached, we're going to go after it until forestry shows up. And if they want us to go home, we'll go home. But they gotta maintain it, and they gotta put it out," he said.