Study of 2023 Okanagan wildfires recommends limiting development in high-risk areas

[Castanet News]

A study into the devastating wildfires that struck British Columbia's Okanagan region in 2023 has recommended that government and industry limit development...

[Mike_T]

did they test the soil for barium?
it is a known fire accelerant

[frenchdip101]

Experts: "limit development in high-fire-risk areas."
District of Lake Country: Let's just build where the fire burned through last year.

lol

[Bsuds]

Experts: "limit development in high-fire-risk areas."
District of Lake Country: Let's just build where the fire burned through last year.

lol

So what would be the chances of it burning again.

[BCCaps]

This sounds like victim-shaming.
When is someone going to look into the response immediately after the fire was discovered? I bet it would have cost a fraction of $480 million in insured losses plus whatever was spent after it was out of control.

[Lumby Glen]

Very interesting that the initial response was not mentioned. I'm surprised that the residents who lost so much aren't pursuing it. Mind you residents of both Downton lake and Celista both filed official complaints against the BC wildfire service with the Forest Practices Board in 2023 and so far, nothing. No accountability.

[cam renaud]

Yikes I hope they didn't spend a lot on that one.
OK guys is that like " don't build a house in BC where there any trees"? Or "Don't build a house where lightning could strike"
How about take the carbon tax and buy a bunch of water bombers.
Best to take the weed and mushrooms away from this group.

[TheBossII]

wow ... some of these comments. Do any of you realize how fast a wildfire can move? How embers can ignite a new fire 20+ kms form the initial fire? If a fire starts in a remote forested area that by the time it is reported and by the time a crew is set up in can suddenly balloon a 100+ acres in a matter of hours. Especially in a hot, dry and drought prone area such as the Okanagan valley?

[Tack]

wow ... some of these comments. Do any of you realize how fast a wildfire can move? How embers can ignite a new fire 20+ kms form the initial fire? If a fire starts in a remote forested area that by the time it is reported and by the time a crew is set up in can suddenly balloon a 100+ acres in a matter of hours. Especially in a hot, dry and drought prone area such as the Okanagan valley?

Don't bother. These are the same people who don't believe the fire jumped the lake (I was there and physically felt hot embers falling from the sky and saw it start). They think someone went and set it purposefully on this side of the lake.

[TheBossII]

wow ... some of these comments. Do any of you realize how fast a wildfire can move? How embers can ignite a new fire 20+ kms form the initial fire? If a fire starts in a remote forested area that by the time it is reported and by the time a crew is set up in can suddenly balloon a 100+ acres in a matter of hours. Especially in a hot, dry and drought prone area such as the Okanagan valley?

Don't bother. These are the same people who don't believe the fire jumped the lake (I was there and physically felt hot embers falling from the sky and saw it start). They think someone went and set it purposefully on this side of the lake.

I remember the white rock lake fire and seeing Vernon being put on alert. There were reports of embers landing as far as Easthill in vernon!! My house located near swan lake had burnt materials in the yard including a chunk of pine tree branch about 3-4" long singed black from the fire. At any point in time the field near our house could of gone up. Three years later I'm wondering how we managed to avoid having that fire jump the lake spread through out Vernon.

[vic35099]

Any one ask how the fire was started? Many theories, from lightning to arsonists. Well I have some information you all may want to consider. As far as lightning, there was no clouds in the sky that day in that location. I know that for a fact. Read on and you will see why that is a fact. Some say it was campers or homeless taking that area as theirs,,well I think not. I would suggest you load google earth and use it. Zero in on the area where the fire was supposed to have started. Google earth decided to update their data and took new sattlelight images of our location. They did that at the most exact day and time that couldnt be better. August 16, 2023. Zero in on where that fire started. A friend of mine actually went up there to look around this past spring and told me about it. The trail up there was rough, real rough. You would need a well equipped 4x4, but my friend opted not to because it was too rough and used his side by side. the area was not only rough but on a slope . Not where the homeless would like to walk up to for sure. Cant see anyone camping up there at that time, hot as hell, no water, no lake or stream, no where to even turn around much less set up a camp. Now back to the google earth. You will see 3 fires burning, just started, the sizes of large camp fires maybe 50 yards apart. Another couple others, smaller down wind from the other 3 fires( you can see the direction of the smoke) probably sparks from the first three fires. No vehicles, no people, no clouds, looks to me like a burn and turn arsonist case. I suspect most of the fires that were started close to towns or cities were man made. Why would these people do this? I dont understand those mind sets, but its reality and is a big problem. So why dont they address the act of starting the fires first, instead of addressing the locations of ural homes and farms. We send C.O. s out into the wilderness with stop checks at major intersections or entrances of forestry roads to check on poachers and illegal activities. Why not do the same, checking on vehicles entering the forest roads. Or have a fleet of drones to dispatch upon the first signs of smoke to catch these people on film. Anything to lessen the ease these demented people have to do such destruction.

[Lumby Glen]

Interesting... I'll have to look this up on Earth. At the time it was speculated that this was a lightning hangover fire given the remoteness. The issue with response to me is that for years, the wildfire service has resisted employing night flying with helis ( they did yet another trial this year). They also refuse to employ Coulson out of Port alberni who has state of the art Blackhawk and Chinook helis (this is the outfit that owned the Martin Mars) . These machines can operate at night. Had they embraced this technology and this contractor, this fire could have been bucketed overnight giving ground crews a chance to get organized. Perhaps we would have seen a different outcome.

The Wildfire Service is very under-resourced contrary to the spin they put out and this is one of the reasons why we are seeing these fires get out of hand so often now. Yes, I realize there's other factors.

[wellcoboy]

clean your yards up folks ..plain and simple

[phosphorous]

Ok, so what was the cause of the fire, which started on a perfectly clear day (just a day before forecasted high winds) on/near a hiking trail during the middle of a week at +35C

Has that been answered yet? Because I think most people can figure that out.

[Jim Dixon]

Wow. All that money on a study that ends telling people not to build in risky areas. Who would have guessed building houses in a forested area would pose a risk of burning down.
~j