Told to evacuate her Okanagan Landing home in the summer of 2016 due to a wildfire threat, Vernon councillor Dalvir Nahal had no idea what to grab as she prepared to leave.
She took with her a bottle of champagne and her puppy.
“Community education is so important,” smiled Nahal, sharing her story at the end of Vernon Fire Rescue Services Chief David Lind’s presentation Monday, updating council on reducing the city’s wildland fire risk.
RELATED: Crews working to contain Okanagan Landing fire
Public awareness is a vital component of the update.
“A foundational piece for us this year will be increasing public awareness, and (giving residents) some empowerment in dealing with the wildland interface threats on their own to protect their own properties,” said Lind.
B.C. is coming off one of its most damaging fire seasons in history in 2017 that saw thousands of hectares destroyed and many residents evacuated from their homes.
Vernon housed a number of evacuees during the summer months.
To mitigate threats in this area, Lind said the city continually chips, mows and maintains city-owned risks. The number of firefighters on staff increases during high-risk periods, and wildland training for firefighters continues. Vernon also has mutual aid agreements in place with surrounding communities.
“We’ve become very good at putting fires out, and as we put those fires out, what we do is we increase the fuel load and we end up with hot, dry conditions,” said Lind. “When fires do happen, we end up we these megafires (such as 2017). We need to change what we’re doing.
“We need to change how we’re controlling wildland fires. We need to steer them in some cases and let them burn. We need to treat properties and lands ahead of time. We need to get back to a more natural state for our wildlands in B.C.”
To that end, renowned research ecologist Paul Hessburg with the U.S. Forest Service will give a free, special presentation open to the public on Monday, May 14, at 7 p.m. at the Schubert Centre in Vernon.
You can catch a glimpse of Hessburg’s presentation here:
Era of Megafires Official Trailer from North 40 Productions on Vimeo.
Hessburg understands wildland fire problems very well, said Lind, and added that fires in B.C. are inevitable.
“We can’t rely on any one tool to deal with wildland interface issue,” said Lind. “We need to look at all of the tools available out there. One of them is fire. We will need to burn and there will be smoke. B.C. without fire in it is not even an option.”
The city provides funds to Vernon Fire Rescue Services’ operational budget. Lind said they’re looking to take $20,000 of that to leverage against provincial grants, and hope see that turn into $200,000 per year for significant fuel load reduction projects.
roger@vernonmorningstar.com
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