If you were anywhere near Deep Cove on April 11, you would have seen a startling sight – dozens of fire crew members from multiple agencies preparing to respond to a wildfire up Indian Arm. Thankfully, it was just a training exercise, but with our changing climate, it’s not a question of if there will be another wildfire in the mountains, but when.
We’re pleased to see our first responder agencies getting prepared like this. The province is warning snowpacks are at their lowest levels in 50 years – a worrying sign that we’ve got a dry and dangerous summer ahead. And until we decarbonize our economy, things are only going to get worse.
While lightning may be the natural cause of wildfires and forest regeneration in the later summer months, every single wildfire we’ve had on the North Shore in recent years has been “human caused.”
The situation demands a change in the way we think and talk about recreation on the trails and in our backyards on the forest interface. While we aren’t in favour of closing trails and trying to keep people out of the backcountry, we are big proponents of a robust awareness campaign about the frankly stupid and unnecessary risks of smoking on the trails and skirting campfire bans. This kind of acknowledgement needs to become a coda to any conversation we have with our friends about even the most casual trip into the woods.
The least destructive fire is the one that never starts.
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