Op-Ed: Will Canadians bounce back after the worst wildfire season ever?
Digital Journal
Wildfires across Canada this year have burned 6.5 million hectares (16 million acres), raising concern over Canada’s ability to rebuild.
The 6.5 million hectares burned this year during the spring wildfire season is a figure higher than the entire 2016, 2019, 2020, and 2022 seasons combined, The Guardian is reporting.
Folks don’t want to be reminded, but warmer and drier months are still to come. Climate change and a warming planet have led to an elevated wildfire threat that appears to represent a new normal.
More extreme weather patterns make for harsher drought conditions, even in places such as Canada’s eastern seaboard, which is far less accustomed to wildfire fallout than other areas of the country.
Annual national wildfire protection and suppression costs topped C$1 billion for six of the last 10 years, according to federal government data, and have risen about C$150 million per decade since 1970.
Only scratching the surface
One billion dollars a year to fight wildfires is enough to make anyone sit up and take notice. But this figure is only scratching the surface. With over 200 structures destroyed by the fires and scores of people displaced for days on end, there is the human cost.
Modern Farmer suggests the downstream effects of wildfires are almost incalculable. Farmers have lost crops, been forced off their land for days at a time, and farmers’ markets were closed.
Another big concern is recruiting firefighters, and it is becoming increasingly difficult due to tight labor markets and the tough nature of the job, provincial officials say.
Limited resources could threaten Canada’s ability to fight fires, which are expected to get bigger and fiercer in the future, risking more damage to communities and disrupting the country’s oil and gas, mining, and lumber industries.
Now in all fairness, some of the burden in costs to farmers over a lost crop, or livestock is picked by the province – Nova Scotia delivered $2,500 emergency grants to its wildfire-affected farmers – and some by insurance carriers.
Insurance carriers are getting antsy over insurance payouts, and it is not just the loss of a house from a wildfire. There is flooding or extreme weather events to consider.
Yet much of the heavy lifting in the moment falls to local systems, community organizations, and friendly neighbors.
Not all communities are getting rebuilt. This leads to a collective failure to rebuild and raises questions about the preparedness of governments to respond to large crises.
Earlier this year, the Fraser Valley Current reported on the slow efforts to rebuild Lytton. The village “remains a flattened heap of dirt and concrete”, it reported, with much of the space fenced off.
Residents complained of bureaucratic delays and a feeling they had been forgotten. Work crews have found Indigenous artifacts at excavation sites, further slowing the process. As a result, next to nothing has been rebuilt yet.
Firefighters needed desperately
A Reuters survey of all 13 provinces and territories showed Canada employs around 5,500 wildland firefighters, not including the remote Yukon territory, which did not respond to requests for information.
Mike Flannigan, a professor at Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia and a wildfire specialist says that’s roughly 2,500 firefighters short of what is needed.
“It’s hard work, it’s hot work, it’s smoky work, and there are real issues with health impacts longer-term,” Flannigan said. “It’s getting harder to recruit and retain people.”
Yes, firefighters have long days – 12 to 14 hours – up to two weeks at a time. The environment is smoke-filled, and high-stress, often in remote wilderness areas.
The seasonal work, longer fire seasons, and uncompetitive basic pay – ranging from C$30 ($22) an hour in British Columbia to C$.74 an hour in Manitoba – also deter people.
“We’re in competition with a whole bunch of other labor markets. It’s demanding physical work and it’s mentally taxing,” said Rob Schweitzer, executive director of BC Wildfire Service.