Fire mitigation begins in the Okanagan Valley

The BC Wildfire Service and the Lake Country Fire Department teamed up in a cross-training project to get the jump on this year’s wildfire season.

Fire crews in the Okanagan Valley are working to stay one step ahead of this wildfire season.

On Friday, the B.C. Wildfire Service and the Lake Country Fire Department teamed up in a cross-training project to help reduce the intensity of future fires – by starting a fire.

Nicole Bonnett a fire information officer for the BCWS explained how this is possible.

“We remove all of the dead vegetation by burning it up, which means that if a fire were to start in the summer when it’s hotter and drier out, under more significant conditions, then it’s burning at a lower intensity,” she said.

Prescribed burns like Friday’s 3.8-hectare blaze make it possible for future wildfires to remain on the ground and not get up into trees.

Okanagan resident Alan Baranow says he has seen firsthand how much debris can grow fires.

“When you start a fire here in the spring, a burn or slash or whatever, you can just see it ripping through,” he said. “Put one match and there she goes.”

Dave Gill is the general manager at Ntityix Resources. He has been doing fire mitigation work in the West Kelowna area for the last 12 years.

“We live in an era of climate change, a time when the climate is getting warmer, drier and windier and we have more fuel around us. I think it’s imperative that we do something to protect our communities,” Gill said.

Across the province, people are eager to help do their part in preventing fires. A statement from the Forests Ministry says the service has received more than 1,700 applications since October, the highest number ever received. Nearly 580 of those came in January, the highest number in a single month.

“It’s also a great time of year for our residents to start thinking about what they can do on their own property to mitigate the risk for a wildfire,” said Bonnett.

Tips on what people can do to mitigate fire risk and intensity can be found at firesmartbc.ca.