Have you been singing kumbaya around illegal Whistler campfires in recent weeks? Tossing your cigarette butts out your car window, or your smouldering roaches on the side of the Valley Trail?
Setting off fireworks to light up the night?
If you answered yes to any of the above, I have something I’d like to say to you—but this is a family newsmagazine, so instead I’ll just borrow a phrase from my mother and ask you politely to please smarten up.
It’s been a quiet summer in Whistler and across the province, as far as wildfires go.
For much of the time I’ve lived in Whistler, my summer morning routines have often included a very specific step.
I put the coffee on, boot up my computer, check my emails—and then load the BC Wildfire Service’s interactive map to see how the province’s wildfire situation has shifted overnight.
More specifically, I’m watching for any new little dots in the vicinity of Whistler or Pemberton.
Mercifully, this daily summer tradition has been almost completely unnecessary in 2022, after a soggy and subdued spring gave us a welcome reprieve from the smoke and anxiety of years past.
My morning map scourings have turned up very few fresh dots thus far this year—and I’m not about to complain about that.
According to the BC Wildfire Service, there have been 102 fires in the Coastal Fire Centre so far in 2022, well below the 194 seen at this point in 2021 and the 10-year average of 168.
“A lot of that has to do with just the cool start to the summer that we saw,” said Nadia Linning, a fire information assistant with the BC Wildfire Service’s Coastal Fire Centre, which includes Whistler.
“So we had a very slow start to the fire season, and then we’ve had really great success with our initial attack on the fires that we have seen, so we haven’t had any real big incidents in Coastal thus far this season.”
Province-wide, as of Aug. 21, there were 191 active wildfires in B.C.
To date, there have been 1,030 fires in the province, down from the 1,539 seen at this point last year and the 10-year average of 1,176.
But after several weeks of hot temperatures, the risk in our forests is rising, and as of this writing, Whistler’s fire danger rating had been listed as “extreme” for seven of the last eight days.
So wildfire season is not over, and now is not the time to let our guard down.
A Category 2 and 3 burning ban (on open burning and industrial burning) has been in place since July 15, while a campfire prohibition was instituted for the Coastal Fire Centre on Aug. 4.
With Whistler’s fire danger rating sitting at extreme, it is crucial that people respect the burning bans, Linning said.
“Human-caused wildfires are completely preventable, and they divert resources away from lightning-caused fires—and we have seen some starts from recent lightning events throughout the fire centre in the last couple of weeks,” Linning said.
“So it’s just really important our resources are staying available for those incidents.”
Lightning activity—though always rare in Whistler—has been a major concern across the province of late.
According to the BC Wildfire Service, from Friday, Aug. 19 to Saturday, Aug. 20 more than 11,000 lightning bolts hit the ground in B.C., starting 98 fresh wildfires (more than 75 per cent of all fires currently burning in B.C. are suspected to be lightning-caused).
With that level of volatility from Mother Nature, it is up to all of us to ensure we’re not adding to the load with irresponsible fire management practices.
Linning also recommended downloading the BC Wildfire Service’s new app to further help the province’s fire crews.
“You can see any incidents that are in your immediate area or anywhere that you’re planning to visit; you can check the fire danger rating on there; you can also find out more information about prohibitions, and there’s the ability to report fires through that app as well,” she said.
“If you do see signs of a wildfire, you can send a photo through the app, and that’s super helpful for us, just because it gives us an idea of what we’re going into before crews are actually able to arrive on scene.”
Find more information and local FireSmart resources at whistler.ca/wildfire.
Report fires by calling 1-800-663-5555 or by texting *5555.
