The province has removed its initial response wildfire team from Chetwynd, sparking worries the fire-prone region in northeast B.C. will be more vulnerable to flames.
Chetwynd’s mayor and chief administrative officer both say wildfires are only escalating in their region, pointing to a fast-growing fire that closed a main highway and forced the evacuation of several properties Wednesday.
Steve McLain, CAO for the district of Chetwynd, says he saw the flames from his front window — a sight he has grown used to from past fire seasons.
“It’s always in the back of our minds,” he said, speaking with Daybreak North host Carolina de Ryk. “Our forest fire season has grown exponentially.”
The fire was discovered around 4 p.m. PT on Wednesday, and is suspected to have been caused by human activity.
But in 2024, unlike previous years, Chetwynd will not have an initial attack crew, which the B.C. Wildfire Service describes as three or four-person teams “strategically” placed around the province in order to be first on scene when a fire is detected.
The service says these small, flexible crews are responsible for suppressing approximately 94 per cent of all fires detected in B.C.
In December, the provincial government confirmed the crew previously stationed in Chetwynd would be relocating to Dawson Creek, 100 kilometres to the east.
Forests Minister Bruce Ralston assured local leadership that the move wouldn’t impact wildfire defence, because the Dawson Creek team is only about 20 minutes away from Chetwynd by helicopter.
But with Wednesday’s fire a reminder of how quickly the situation can worsen, Chetwynd’s residents aren’t fully convinced.
Dry, dangerous conditions
Historically a lumber community, trees are everywhere to be seen as you drive Highway 97 through Chetwynd, a 2,000-person community about 720 kilometres northeast of Vancouver, and 210 kilometres northeast of Prince George.
Dozens of chainsaw carvings, depicting wildlife, mythological creatures and even Lady Gaga dot the road, the result of an annual competition that brings participants from around the world.
There’s also an emptying lumber yard, the remnants of a Canfor mill that shut down last year.
As McLain tells it, if you look at an aerial map you’ll see the surrounding forests “going right to our front doors.”
Every year, Chetwynd, B.C., hosts competitors from around the world at the annual International Chainsaw Carving Competition. This year, it was held against the backdrop of wildfires threatening the neighbouring community of Tumbler Ridge.
That proximity to so much wilderness also means Chetwynd was on high alert for much of the unprecedented 2023 wildfire season, which hit northeast B.C. particularly hard.
“Any window we looked out of, we could see a plume of forest fire smoke,” McLain said.
The community was also had an evacuation reception centre as hundreds of their neighbours to the north were forced from their homes and wildfire smoke was almost constant.
Ongoing drought is compounding the problem.
Four water basins in the region — Fort Nelson, East Peace, North Peace and South Peace — are at drought Level 5, the most severe classification on the provincial scale.
Like much of the rest of B.C., the northeast also saw lower-than-average precipitation and snowpack over the winter.
That drought has contributed to some holdover fires — fires that went dormant in winter but then resurfaced and started smouldering early as February — prompting a warning from the B.C. Wildfire Service.
Later that month, the first out-of-control wildfire of 2024 was reported southeast of Chetwynd, and more followed.
So it was with “some concern” that McLain and other leaders in the region learned of the province’s decision to remove the initial attack crew.
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Worries about delayed response
In a January letter to the province, McLain and mayor Allen Courtoreille made their case for why a base should continue to operate in Chetwynd by looking at data from the past 10 years.
From 2013 to 2023, they said, there had been 14 fires within five kilometres of Chetwynd and a total of 87 within 25 kilometres — 13 of them in 2023 alone.
“All available climate projections indicate that the threat to our communities posed by wildfire will continue to increase for the foreseeable future,” they said, urging the province to reconsider.
Similar letters were sent by leaders in the neighbouring communities of Hudson’s Hope and Tumbler Ridge, expressing concern about unnecessary delays in tackling new fires in one of the province’s most flammable regions.
In his written response, Ralston said the decision to shut down the base was due to an “absence of full-time staff, as well as aging infrastructure of the base itself.”
The letter from Ralston assured Chetwynd that the closure “will not result in a reduction of service,” and said there are plans to bulk up wildfire-fighting capacity overall, adding to the available protection.
Courtoreille isn’t convinced, and said as much in a letter of response to Ralston that was read aloud at the last Peace River Regional District meeting.
“We have not experienced what you refer to as the ‘expansion of B.C. Wildfire Service,’ nor do we feel that the B.C. Wildfire Service considers us to be in any way a priority,” he said.
McLain said while Chetwynd is grateful for the work done by wildfire crews, the district is keeping close track of wildfire starts and response time, as they continue to lobby for more resources.
“We need more resources,” he said. “So far we’ve been lucky.”
“I hope the luck holds.”