The impact of a dramatic turn in the provincial wildfire situation last week is still being calculated as the smoke clears in the Okanagan. Dramatic footage from the McDougall Creek wildfire in West Kelowna focused on the impacts to residential and recreational properties, but the smoke plume hit orchards as well as vineyards, where veraison …
wildfire
Wildfire 2021: ‘They keep locals in the dark. That is really problematic.’
MERRITT – Rhonda and Wayne MacDonald of Bar FX Ranch planned to stay and fight the approaching Lytton Creek fire until they lost power. But as they loaded up their last liner with cattle, a fire tornado breached the top of a hill and raced towards them against the smoky dusk skies. It was in …
Wildfire threat remains high
September has amped up the wildfire risk in many parts of BC as hot, dry weather gives summer an extended finish. While the conditions are good news for forage corn producers, property owners in Hudson’s Hope are on evacuation alert as a result of the Battleship Mountain fire which ranks as the largest fire in …
Ranchers facing rangeland losses
WESTWOLD – Ranchers in areas hit hard by last year’s heat dome, wildfires and drought shouldn’t count on rushing out on their rangeland this summer, cautions a professional agrologist. Chris Wellman, a fence contractor and former range agrologist with the Vernon Forest District, says many herds may need to stick close to home this season …
Ranchers face rangeland losses
Ranchers in areas hit hard by last year’s heat dome, wildfires and drought shouldn’t count on rushing out on their rangeland this summer, cautions a professional agrologist. Chris Wellman, a fence contractor and former range agrologist with the Vernon Forest District, says many herds may need to stick close to home this season pending an …
Don’t blame the wildfires
While this year’s wildfire season was routinely described as unprecedented, numbers from the Insurance Bureau of Canada point to the costs being a blip next to other natural disasters. Together, insured damages from this year’s wildfires amounted to a mere $155 million, split between just two fires – the Lytton wildfire, at $78 million, and …