Are we ready for “the big one?”
With British Columbia experiencing its worst fire season in 59 years, miraculously the South Okanagan has dodged the bullet. At least so far. With Penticton’s unique location, many fear “the big one” will eventually come — not “if” but “when.”
“We’re at the poker table and so far we’ve been fairly lucky,” said Don Gayton, a retired ecologist from Summerland who spent 20 years working with forest services in Nelson.
“With suburbs moving farther and farther up the mountainsides, there certainly is potential for interface fires here,” Gayton said. “One has to remember that most houses catch fire as a result of airborne embers, rather than being caught in an actual fire front. Embers of significant size can travel half a kilometer in the air in front of a high intensity fire.”
This summer there have been four close calls in the immediate area — two on the West Bench, one in Naramata, another in Kaleden.
A fire that came within 10 kilometers of the Princeton Airport resulted in 3,300 hectares of burning, the loss of two homes (one belonging to an RCMP officer), several buildings, and one business, Laska’s Flooring. Mop up of the fire, which began July 7, continues.
The final day of the Shambhala Music Festival, near Nelson, was scheduled to be cancelled due to the threat of a nearby wildfire but the show did go on.
“Each summer the Okanagan is susceptible to wildfires and has experienced some notable wildfires,” said BC Wildfire Service executive director Madeline Maley.
“The current wildfire situation in the Cariboo is a reminder to all of us that we need to be prepared. On July 7, there was an unprecedented 142 new wildfire starts in the province — with the vast majority started by lightning and in the Cariboo. We know that as a result of climate change we’re starting to see more intense wildfire seasons.”
Some experts predict fire season could extend into October.
“Penticton will experience a disaster at some point — the question is from what and when, and how can we mitigate its impacts,” said Jeremy Stone, director of the Vancouver-based Recovery and Relief. (Hurricane Katrina and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill are among the disaster recoveries Stone has worked on.)
Looking back at the West Bench fire of July 20, Penticton fire chief Larry Watkinson said it could have been far worse.
“If the fire department didn’t take action on the fire like we did in the West Bench, 250 homes could have been lost and that hillside would still be burning today,” he said.
“This is not paranoia — this is reality, we’re living in this. Look at the Lake Country fire (of July 2017). It traveled so quickly that fire departments couldn’t keep up with it.”
Watkinson said wildfire readiness is his No. 1 priority. His staff works on hypothetical scenarios daily, discussing afterward what went right and where to improve.
“If there’s a fire on Campbell Mountain, how do we get there? Who is the commander? We play these things out,” Watkinson said.
The fire department has identified the many high-risk areas in the region, all of which can be found on the City of Penticton’s website.
“We could easily see mass evacuations based on those hillsides and fire behaviour that we’ve already been able to identify as high risk,” Watkinson said.
THE GOOD NEWS Penticton and the surrounding area is well prepared, Watkinson insists.
The Community Wildfire Protection plan is completed.
Okanagan fire chiefs meet on a regular basis.
Penticton has a reciprocal arrangement with neighbouring communities including West Kelowna. The Penticton Community Centre, already utilized in July to help fire victims from Princeton and Williams Lake, has been identified as the community’s evacuation centre.
An evacuation arrangement with Washington state does not exist. If, in the event of an enormous fire, resources would first come from within British Columbia and then Alberta. Firefighters from Mexico have been used in other places in the province this summer.
An emergency call centre with six phones was created at the Penticton Fire Hall on Nanaimo Avenue if in the event of a full-scale blaze.
Firefighters in the area also enjoy an “amazing” working relationship with RCMP, Watkinson said. During last month’s West Bench fire, Mounties were running up and down the street, banging on doors, telling residents to evacuate immediately.
Maley said B.C. is working closely with the federal government and other provinces and territories on implementing the Canadian Wildlife Strategy.
Mark Woods, community services manager for the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen, said tremendous improvements have been made since the Filmon Firestorm which wreaked havoc across the Okanagan in 2003.
“We didn’t have an emergency management program in 2003 and frankly, most municipalities at that time didn’t have one. Since then legislation changed and all municipalities are required to have an emergency management program,” Woods said.
The RDOS recently hired a consulting firm which analyzed its seven fire departments, administrative structure and delivery of fire services.
There are also funds available for Fire Smart programs which allow the community to become better educated.
Faulder and Husula Highlands were two of the first to utilize Fire Smart grants followed by St. Andrew’s and Anarchist Mountain.
“FireSmart is completely voluntary, and only a minority of homeowners have undertaken such work,” warned Phil Burton, a professor of ecosystem science and management at University of Northern B.C.
“Those short-term, short-distance measures are only part of the story, as the real danger is from strong and erratic winds, which can blow firebrands hundreds of metres or even kilometres. This was the reason for evacuating Williams Lake,” Burton said.
Building regulations have also improved over the past decade. The Official Community Plan by the City of Penticton has a strict set of guidelines for building in areas sensitive to fire.
Watkinson said as communities grow, they need to consider wildfire in the development plans for subdivisions, something that was never considered 40 years ago. He describes Sendero Canyon as a textbook example of sensible development.
EDUCATION
Both Woods and Watkinson stress education is paramount.
“As a rule, people in British Columbia know what it means to be fire smart,” Woods said. “Do they know what it means to fire smart their property effectively? Perhaps not.”
Stone said that from his research Williams Lake was a FireSmart community.
“Can disaster happen even in the presence of good emergency management programming?,” Woods said. “The answer is a resounding ‘yes’. The reason why ‘resilience’ is such a buzz word now is that we accept that disasters always happen, no matter how much you prepare. We can reduce the impacts of natural hazards, but we can’t stop them completely.”
Everybody who lives in a high-risk area should have a grab bag ready, Watkinson said. He stressed words such as “preparedness” and “self-awareness.”
He suggests thinning trees by taking every third one out, not piling wood beside a house, memorizing an escape plan, and talking with family and neighbours about how to react in the advance of an evacuation, including how to rescue your pets.
Fire prevention lessons begin at a young age.
The Okanagan Skaha School District partners with community fire departments, and fire safety presentations begin in kindergarten. School newsletters often include submissions from fire departments reinforcing safety messages.
“Our teachers and administrators are always responding to teachable moments as they arise in the community as well,” assistant superintendent Todd Manuel said, praising the efforts of Kaleden Elementary School principal Heather Rose, who organized a partnership with the volunteer fire department long in advance to this summer’s Kaleden fire.
“When issues such as the recent floods or fires occur, our teachers take time to help our students understand the causes of these issues, how we can best respond to them in our communities to support those in need, and what precautions we need to take in the future as responsible citizens to help prevent fires,” Manuel said.
HUMAN CAUSED Watkinson said an entirely separate issue is human-caused fires.
Many arsonists are caught, he said. Vagrancy can also be a problem.
“If there’s people acting maliciously in the woodlands, we need to know, notify your fire department, notify the RCMP,” he said.
Having studied the behaviour of smokers, Watkinson believes many people who toss cigarette butts are not malicious but instead flick it instinctively, without thinking about consequences.
Due to the provincial state of emergency and extreme conditions the RDOS banned smoking, fireworks, and motorized vehicles in all public wooded, grass and brush areas.
Becoming the bylaw police is something Watkinson would rather not have to do.
“I hate to pull authority and bylaws out — you cannot ride your motocross on these trails, you cannot smoke on the KVR (trail). That’s not where I want to be as a fire chief but the reality is with those activities, you make ash without even thinking about it.”
THE SOLUTION RDOS chair Karla Kozakevich of Naramata believes adequate resources are available from higher levels of government once fire breaks out. She would like to see more funding committed to help mitigate future disasters.
“Much of the current approach is very reactive,” she said. “Local governments are looking at ways to reduce fuel loads from around our communities. We are also encouraging citizens to clear dry debris and brush around from their homes to protect themselves and their neighbours from future fire events.”
Stone said recovery planning doesn’t receive the attention it should.
“Most places prepare for the immediate disaster, but few ever plan for the long-term recovery,” he said. “This includes business resilience and business recovery. Everybody worries about residents, but few worry about business owners and employers in the same way.”
A recent study by Alexandra Pogue and Lori Daniels from the Faculty of Forests at UBC examined three centuries of fire at Vaseux Lake.
In the report it notes that Indigenous people in the Okanagan have a wealth of knowledge to offer on surrounding fire ecology and fire use.
Gayton suggests being pro-active through fuel manipulation and prescribed burning.
“Typically prescribed burning occurs in April at a time of year when most government agencies don’t have any money,” he said. “No forest manager has been given media for a successful prescribed burn, but if one escapes and kills a horse or burns down a house, it’s a career-modifying experience. There’s a natural reluctance.”
Watkinson is in the process of applying for $900,000 in grants to build fire brakes in three troubled areas.
“If a big fire is coming over the mountain it will come to this fuel brake and then slow down so we can work on it. We take the fuel out — the pine needles, thin out the forest and make it so the fire will come down to the ground so we can fight it. When it’s in the treetops, we can’t fight it.”