Massive wildfires in Western Canada could become the norm, experts say

KELOWNA, B.C.— As a fire grew in the darkened hills outside west Kelowna on Sunday night, Carole Denison walked the perimeter of her home.

The first day of a wildfire can be frightening and unpredictable. And because a stray ember could spark a fire on the property, she wasn’t taking any chances.

“The whole mountain was on fire,” said Denison, who stayed on alert until 3 a.m. but saw no embers land nearby.

The family keeps a pump in the lake, firefighting equipment on the property and sprinklers on the roof of the home, which they have turned on every day since the Westside Road fire began.

The 560-hectare fire was 25 per cent contained by Friday morning, and an evacuation order on approximately 70 homes was downgraded to an evacuation alert, allowing residents to return.

Denison’s family is prepared for the inevitable wildfires of the Okanagan, and they should be.

The western provinces are experiencing a massive volume of wildfires this year, and experts and politicians agree this is the new reality for many Canadians.

British Columbia has already drained the $63 million it had budgeted for fighting wildfires this year. As of Thursday, the province had spent over $145 million fighting fires, according to Vivian Thomas, communications director with the B.C. Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations.

Across the country, wildfires have burned more than 3.7 million hectares of land so far this year, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. A typical year would see about two million hectares burned, University of Alberta professor Mike Flannigan said. During the 1970s, the average was around one million hectares.

“I’ve been watching fires since the ’70s,” Flannigan said. “The last few years have been unusual.”

Flannigan attributes the spike to climate change driven by human activity and what he calls the “lazy jet stream.”

With temperatures at northern latitudes climbing more quickly than at the equator, Flannigan said, the jet stream loses this source of energy and flows more like a slow river.

And the conditions that accompany the jet stream, like periods of drought that prompt forest fires, last longer.

“The weather is wacky at times, but it’s getting wackier,” Flannigan said. “Fire is driven by extremes.”

Just off Westside Rd. on Thursday, smoke pooled between ridges as helicopters and planes flew overhead. The earth along Westside Rd. was scorched, and small plumes of smoke rose from the ground like smouldering campfires. Needles near the bases of evergreens were dried and browned by the blaze.

In a section of blackened earth the size of a large gymnasium, a large hole at the base of a cluster of evergreens was still smoking and warm to the touch.

Nearby, Prime Minister Stephen Harper appeared with B.C. Premier Christy Clark in front of a row of firefighters, their faces smudged with soot. Harper seemed to acknowledge that climate change could play a role in the fires.

“I think it’s possible,” said Harper, who refused to answer more questions before leaving.

Afterward, Clark offered few details about any discussion with Harper on climate change’s impact on the fires.

“We talked a little bit about British Columbia’s approach to it (climate change),” Clark said. “We are confronting some of the worst fires that we’ve ever had in this province. . . . This is going to be something that, I think, sadly, we’re going to see happening more often.”

Clark suggested that a “national cache of technology” could be deployed across the country, but provided little detail.

“He’s aware of that. I know that they’re thinking about it,” Clark said.

The premier said she was focused on the immediate impacts of the fires, being prepared for next year’s fire season, and on the “long-term climate change agenda.”

Chris Carlsten, an associate professor of medicine at the University of British Columbia, said a single fire can’t be attributed to climate change, but a pattern of increased fires suggests a link.

For Carlsten, who studies the impact of particulate matter and allergens on the lungs, the issue is urgent, with implications for public health. In his view, particulate matter from vehicle emissions can augment the impact that an allergen has on the lungs.

Emissions from wildfires could have similar effects.

“There’s been a lot of research on the traffic and allergen interaction and very little on the forest fire allergen interactions,” Carlsten said. “That being said, the scientific evidence would suggest that it’s not likely to be very different.”

It was clear that the fires burning near Westside this week are as much a part of life as the anonymity that comes with living in the Okanagan valley, something many residents want to preserve.

Dale Ziech, Denison’s brother-inlaw and a former volunteer firefighter, said the presence of crews can mitigate the anxiety he feels when fires burn.

“After they’re here, depending on the behaviour and strategy, it’s concerning,” Ziech said. But the first 24 hours are “insane.”

When the Star found Ziech playing an acoustic guitar, he was relaxed. Like other residents along Westside, he was confident that crews would keep locals safe.

“Last quote: Thank you,” Ziech said. “Superb work. Superb.”

“We are confronting some of the worst fires that we’ve ever had. . . . This is going to be something that, I think, sadly, we’re going to see happening more often.” CHRISTY CLARK B.C. PREMIER