R Jeff introduced Heather:
Heather joins us as a past Rotary Youth Exchange student. She first became interested in forestry and climate change while obtaining her Bachelor of Science at the University of British Columbia in the faculty of Forestry. She has since worked for the B.C Wildfire Service as a helicopter attack wildlife fighter, Safety and Staff Development Coordinator and Safety Officer on an incident management team. She’s worked the front lines of wildfires during the worst seasons ever recorded (up until this year) and is here to talk about her experience and what she’s learned.
A Walk Through Wild Fire
Heather is passionate about the interaction of Forest Ecology, Climate Change and the state of Wild Fires in Canada today. She speaks from practical experience working as a Wild Fire Fighter in BC.
She started with a brief history of fire. Early people used fire to clear land to make hunting easier. This goes back 300,000 years. Since the last ice age, Indigenous peoples understood the role of fire in the environment, they managed it and used it. Natural Law requires that humans are part of the eco system. The use of low intensity burns, at the right time of the year, could help to limit the high intensity fires we are experiencing and seeing now.
In the early 1900's the Indigenous management of the land had ended. Fire became the enemy of western expansion and development. There were a series of big wildfires in Canada and the US. Some natural and some man made. A big fire in Idaho in 1910 saw 86 dead and resulted in the attitudes and current management techniques of today. Basically to work to immediately suppress wild fires as quickly as possible. This was supported by academics from Europe with limited if any knowledge and understanding of the Boreal Forests of North America. As a result, forests become over grown with lots of material to burn.
In BC, they use three types of crews; Para chute crews, heli crews who deploy from helicopters and ground crews who get to the sites by vehicles along roads. There are six Fire Centres in BC.
When a call comes in about a possible fire, the details and location can be vague or wrong. The location of a fire, the size, direction of travel and speed are all critical. What is in the fires path. Also noting that all these conditions can change quickly.
Crews need to find access routes, source of water quickly.
The heli crews look for a place to land or can be lowered close to ground to disembark in a hover exit. They carry packs with a days food and water, hoses, pumps and equipment (a lot of weight). They have to cut their way to the fire, cutting trees, limbing and moving as they go. This path may have to be their quick exit in emergency and wide enough for two crew members to carry an injured member out.
Once at the fire, they work to cut a perimeter around the fire, for access, dig a fire guard, and ditch for hoses etc. They need to be efficient. They need to cut a trail to the water source.
It is a lot of work all while the fire sucks the oxygen from the area. They work long hours and often camp near the site. They have to plan and work strategically. They try and box in a fire to slow it down.
Heather worked with other fire fighters who were in the forest fighting fires while their own homes burned.
Wild forest fires have become worse due to logging practices and the practice of planting homogeneous forests, creating dense forests, younger trees. Climate change with hotter days and nights, more intense storms.
Old growth forests tend to withstand fires better, their lower branches higher up and bark is thicker and better able to withstand the fire. Traditionally overnight would bring more relief, with lower temperatures and humidity, but now with droughts and higher temperatures, there is less relief over night.
Some fires are good and needed for the ecology.
Forest Fire Fighters are not paid well. After six years Heather was only making $24/hour. The work is seasonal and typically 14 to 16 hour days with 2 weeks in the bush, sleeping in tents before getting a couple days off. There is a high suicide rate among forest fire fighters. In 2023 there were 7 fire fighters lost their lives.
Recent years experiences with forest fires in BC is the new normal.