I had a call from a concerned citizen last week. She had just returned from a walk in Nymph Falls Provincial Park and was shocked to see the amount of burned-out logs along the trails.
She submitted some photos, which were in turn submitted to Courtenay Fire Department Chief Kurt MacDonald for assessment.
MacDonald determined that the photos were all aftermath of human-caused fires.
Whether or not they were deliberately or maliciously set could not be determined. They could be the result of carelessly discarded cigarette butts, or roaches (ends of marijuana joints).
The point is, we, as a community, can consider ourselves lucky that none of these instances turned into anything worse.
We can thank Mother Nature for that. Living in a rainforest in the winter has its benefits.
But as the seasons turn, and the weather dries, such carelessness could well create a tragically different outcome. There is no reason to believe the upcoming summer will be any wetter than any other in recent history. And if we get the type of summer we are becoming accustomed to, a careless cigarette butt disposal, or impromptu beach-side fire could have devastating results. We need look no further than virtually everywhere else in our province in 2023.
Tens of thousands of people were forced out of their homes during last year’s fire season; some temporarily - others were not so lucky.
And there were fatalities. A total of nine people (eight firefighters and one child) lost their lives due to wildfires in 2023, including several in British Columbia
Devyn Helena Gale, a 19-year-old firefighter for the B.C. Wildfire Service, was struck by a falling tree while she was helping fight the fires.
Nine-year-old Carter Vigh of 100 Mile House died after suffering an asthma attack due to wildfire smoke.
A 25-year-old firefighter died in the Prince George area, and four members of a wildfire crew died in a car crash in September while returning home from a two-week firefighting assignment near Fort St. James.
Wildlife also perished.
Twenty-five thousand sq. km of land was lost, nearly double the 2018 record of 13,600 sq. km.
While Vancouver Island was spared, for the most part, BC Wildfires have become far too much the norm in recent years. And while people like to point to climate change as the culprit, that wasn’t the case with these logs at Nymph Falls. Nor is it the fact with an estimated 40 per cent of all wildfires, according to the Government of B.C.
Humans start wildfires in several ways, either by accident or intentionally.
For example:
• Open burning
• Vehicle and engine use
• Industrial activity
• Fireworks, sky-lanterns, outdoor flame lighting
• Discarding burning items (cigarettes)
• Arson
Every one of these examples are avoidable. Some are prosecutable. It’s frightening to think that people would start wildfires intentionally, but there were instances in 2023.
Angela Cornish pleaded guilty to two counts of arson in the Kamloops area (she was originally charged with four counts) in September.
In a bizarre case in Quebec, Brian Paré admitted to 13 counts of arson and one count of arson with disregard for human life. Paré was a conspiracy theorist who claimed the increase in wildfires was due to government intervention, not climate change.
The bottom line is that if we are not more careful, we could suffer the same fate as the thousands of evacuees from last year. We are still a month or away from the start of wildfire season, but based on the findings at Nymph Falls recently, some of us need to change our practices. And change now. For everyone’s sake.
Terry Farrell is the editor at the Comox Valley Record.