Increased Wildfire Activity in the Kamloops Fire Region

Observation by Dillon Alexandre:

Over the last five years, I have observed that wildfires and their impacts are increasing in both frequency and area burned, with the 2021 season being the third-largest fire season in BC, behind 2017 and 2018 (BC Fire Service, 2021). This results in summers essentially being “lost” to both tourists and residents in the Kamloops Fire Region.

The BC fire season has far-reaching impacts on environmental, social, and economic scales. The environmental impact is somewhat obvious, with millions of hectares burned annually leading to decreases in forest area, increased soil erosion, and wildlife and habitat loss. Additionally, the reduced air quality affects human health as smoke inhalation is detrimental to respiratory systems. Socially, people are impacted by losing the ability to be outdoors, and limiting natural sunlight, potentially being detrimental to mental health and well-being. Economically, there is a large loss, as people now tend to avoid the Interior during fire season.

Consultation interview with Brad Litke: Senior Wildfire Officer of Operations for the Kamloops Fire Centre (BC Wildfire Service) via phone call:

Q: What are the primary causes of a “bad” wildfire season? A: Drought is the largest driver. It is more than a lack of rain, it is tied to snowpack and how fast it melts, all contributes to drought. Warm temperatures and lack of rain exacerbates the problem. This also affects agriculture, water availability, and many other things. The second largest driver for wildfires is lightning. Humans can’t influence it, just have to deal with it. Typically, fires are 50% lightning caused and 50% human caused.

Q: Does human intervention have any impact (positive or negative)? A: Negative effects – there are a number of things that humans do that cause wildfires, from arson, backyard burning, to industry fires, structure fires, car fires; the list can go on and on. Positive effects: FireSmart (BC Fire Services website) - humans can do things to mitigate risks of fires (considering we can't change topography), we can change the fuel, spacing of trees, put in natural fire breaks. This is how homeowners and developers can reduce the impact of wildfires.

Q: What factor into wildfire feedback loops (less forest, drier earth)? A: After a wildfire goes through an area, it actually helps with preventing future fires. Before humans the Kamloops area had a fire regime of every 5-7 years (meaning when a fire would pass through), which would keep health of the forests. Other, more damp regions may have had fire regimes of 150 years. Humans interrupted the regimes, creating forests that are denser, with more fuel loading or bug kill, which contribute to more intense, catastrophic wildfires. This years’ fires have reduced fuel loading in the region, so we probably won’t see fires in the same areas for years.

Q: How do we manage this as residents of the area? What do we need to be prepared for going forward? A: This can be mitigated by planting different species of trees, spacing trees appropriately, removal of fuel build-up, and designing with natural fire breaks. All of this can be found on the FireSmart website.

Q: Do we see this changing at all? Or can summer fire season be considered the new normal? A: I believe it is a growth industry and not likely to change. As you noted, the last three worst fire years ever have been in the last 5 years. We can measure that the fires are more severe and there are more severe weather events happening now than at any point in the past. In my career, fires are getting larger and more intense than I have ever seen before.

Brad concludes our conversation by mentioning that wildfires are considered the number one risk when looked at from a social, environmental, or economic perspective, and the number one natural hazard in our province with relation to frequencies. We get thousands of wildfires a year and that number is likely only going to increase.