Province’s wildfire prep lacking

The aggressive start to this year’s wildfire season seems to have caught the province unawares, say ranchers in northeastern BC.

“Government really needs to step up their game, they need to pay attention,” says Montney rancher and Stoddart Creek Water Services CEO Thomas Stahl. “We had a dry fall last year. It’s not like they didn’t know the data. … They should have planned for these wildfires because we were heading into a spring that looked really dry.”

When fires did start breaking out, the government did respond as quickly as needed to get ahead of the situation.

“There were so many things that happened on that [Stoddart Creek] fire that were not necessary,” says Stahl. “It could have gotten under control had government responded the way it should respond to fires. But it didn’t. … Now here we are with the repercussions of it all.”

The Stoddart Creek blaze is currently being held after growing to more than 72,200 acres. It’s one of 83 active fires burning across the province as of June 12. The majority are in the Prince George fire centre, where 1.9 million acres have burned this year. The largest is the Donnie Creek fire north of Fort St. John, at 1.2 million acres, which made a 30km run in just five days.

“This might be typical in a really dry fall, but to see this showing up in early May and June is very anomalous,” says predictive services unit superintendent Neal McLoughlin of the BC Wildfire Service, who worries about what’s to come.

The buildup index, which represents the total amount of fuel ready to burn, shows above-normal values for this time of year for parts of the coast, western Cariboo, Northern Interior and northeastern BC.

Looking ahead, Environment and Climate Change Canada indicates a high probability of summer temperatures being above normal with little rainfall to mitigate the dry conditions.

“There are three main ingredients when it comes to extreme fire behaviour. One is that fuels are available to burn, two is that we have strong winds and three … is that we get ignitions,” McLoughlin says. “When we put the three of those together, it’s a very challenging fire season outlook.”

All content on this website is copyrighted, and cannot be republished or reproduced without permission.

3 hours ago

Forty-six regions in BC are eligible to participate in the federal livestock tax deferral program, announced yesterday, more than anywhere else in the country. The program allows producers who downsize their breeding herds by 15% to defer reporting the proceeds until the following year, when they buy replacement stock. But after multiple years of drought, the BC beef herd is cruising 25-year lows and some producers are calling for more support to maintain and rebuild their herds. For more, see: [www.countrylifeinbc.com/bc-leads-livestock-tax-deferrals/]

#BCAg ... See MoreSee Less

View Comments

Likes: 9
Shares: 1
Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

4 days ago

After weeks and weeks of no moisture, there's rain in Kelowna today. While much more moisture is needed over the coming weeks and months to reduce drought conditions and the air smells of wet campfire, the slow, steady rain is very welcome for fruit grower#BCAg#BCAg ... See MoreSee Less

Likes: 7
Shares: 0
Comments: 0

5 days ago

The first Delta Farmland and Wildlife Trust Grassland Set-aside Variety Trial Field Day was held at Delta's family-owned Tecarte Farms, August 27. Co-owner Bill Bates and DFWT executive director Christine Schmalz welcomed more than 35 people to view seven acres planted to different grassland blends specifically chosen to rejuvenate the soil and support the farm's blueberries. For the Bates family, it was time to try something different following the decline of the field's blueberry bushes over the past several years. "We tried everything, and nothing worked," says Bates. The blueberries were removed in May and the grassland crops planted about a week later.

#BCAg ... See MoreSee Less

Likes: 17
Shares: 1
Comments: 0

Bessette Creek is the latest watershed hit with a temporary fish protection order this year as the province moves to protect returning Chinook salmon. A total of 131 surface and groundwater users must cease drawing water immediately, with forage producers, greenhouses and nurseries impacted. "Declining flows in Bessette Creek reached record lows in early July 2026 and have remained below the minimum level required to support fish population survival," says the province. Bessette producers have embraced voluntary cutbacks, scheduled irrigation and other measures to reduce water use, and are also waiting on funding to boost water storage infrastructure. They're the second group of producers hit with a provincial order this year. Salmon River irrigators were told to top watering earlier this month following a reprieve to address wildfire risk. Growers in both the Salmon River and Bessette watersheds are urging the province to support new water storage infrastructure in advance of next year.

#BCAg ... See MoreSee Less

Likes: 7
Shares: 1
Comments: 3

There is a problem... having lived in the salmon river ( silver creek ) area, I remember a fish biologist telling family members that salmon only "survive" in high iron content creeks, they do not "thrive".... salmon river ( silver creek ) is a very high iron content, would stain clothes brown when i would use bleach... So don't expect high salmon numbers off of that creek , even in ideal situations...

I just wish they would take an interest in CHASE CREEK....went bone dry...100% of trout abd other species died...smell was terrible from rotting fish. Understand this has happened many times in the past. Chase Irrigation District totally responsible for this disaster. Now fishermen are complaining about major drop in water levels at Pillar Lake.

They could not mismanage things worse than they have. It's impossible for them to. The fact that farmers that we need for our animals are now suffering the consequences our governments have not protected us from, is absolutely fucking wild.

The annual potato variety trial in Delta on August 27 attracted more than 300 people from across Canada, with Bill Zylmans of the BC Potato and Vegetable Growers Association declaring it a gathering of "the extended potato family." With the expansion of BCPVGA's mandate to a host of field vegetable growers, the field day was a chance to network, learn and understand issues across the vegetable sector. BC agriculture minister Lana Popham and Delta South MLA Ian Paton were on hand for the event at Lundstrum Farms on Westham Island, with both applauding efforts to restore bridge access to the island earlier this year to ensure production was unimpeded. Results of the trials will be published in the new year once seasonal data has been collated and analyzed.

#BCAg ... See MoreSee Less

Likes: 25
Shares: 1
Comments: 1

Lana Popham is the hardest working MLA in the province, I don’t agree with the NDP policies, however I do recognize a hard working MLA…thanks for what you do