It’s all under control

PIB says controlled burns ‘effective’ for centuries

Penticton residents got their first whiff of wildfire season this week.

Controlled burns were set by staff from various departments within the Penticton Indian Band to get rid of dead grass and undergrowth in a bid to protect the community once wildfire season arrives for real.

The burns were easily visible on the mountainsides above the community and along the Okanagan River channel.

“From a distance, the situation may seem hazardous, but the flame size is low, focused on grassland and focused on a small, slowly moving strip burn less than two metres in width,” the band said in a press release.

It noted the staff involved are trained in both western and traditional Indigenous methods for conducting such work.

“Prescribed burning is an important component for maintaining grassland ecosystems and land renewal, they have been an effective tool for many thousands of years within the Okanagan,” the release added.

“Government restrictions to prescribed burning regimes have led to catastrophic wildfires that would not have occurred if proper and regular maintenance through traditional prescribed burning regimes had been maintained.”

The Penticton Fire Department helped out with the program on the permitting side, although it doesn’t have jurisdiction over some of the areas that were treated.

“You may see burning over there that is nonpermitted, but the Penticton Indian Band as a government are very cooperative with the city and the fire department to achieve the permitting process,” said Penticton fire Chief Larry Watkinson.

“We have a strong relationship, but not all the burning over there is under the optics of approval from the fire department.

Watkinson also touted his department’s own wildfire prevention efforts, key among them being the first-ever training symposium from April 6 to 8, when firefighters from around B.C. will descend on the city for a live-fire exercise in the Campbell Mountain area.

“That’s an incredibly progressive step and we’re burning eight hectares of prescribed fire on April 8,” Watkinson said.

The department also recently received a $10,000 grant from Fire Smart Canada to do two new educational campaigns and programming.

“I’m pretty happy to say things are coming along really well that way,” Watkinson said.

JOE FRIES/Penticton Herald Will Poitras of the Penticton Indian Band Fire Department lights up dead grass along the Okanagan River channel on Thursday as part of a larger program of prescribed burning carried out in the community this week.