We are arriving at the most magical time of year in Metro Vancouver. The winter rains are tapering off. The parks are verdant. And the awful clouds of forest fire smoke have not yet arrived.
It is a grim but inescapable reality that climate change is making our summer droughts drier and longer and that wildfires are becoming more destructive before they can be contained.
If you were anywhere near Grouse Mountain on Tuesday last week, you’d have seen crews from all over the province rehearsing a dry run on the response that would be required in the nightmare scenario of a fire burning at the base of the mountain and threatening the neighbourhoods below.
While we are heartened to see our crews drilling on these tactics in advance, we know there is more that can be done to mitigate damages before they happen.
We want to see a Smokey Bear-like consciousness in everyone working or recreating in the forest or along the interface. Already, there have been two wildfires in Squamish this year, both of them human-caused.
And we urge every North Shore homeowner to contact their municipality about wildfire assessment for their property. When it comes to building materials and landscaping choices, very few existing homes are following FireSmart principles.
It seems every year we can add names to the list of cities devastated if not destroyed completely by wildfires – Lytton, West Kelowna, Jasper, Los Angeles, Lahaina. It’s time to start applying the lessons these tragedies are teaching us.
It might just be the spark we need.
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