Image Credit: BC Wildfire Service

By Dylana Kneeshaw

CANADIAN WILDFIRE STUDY

TRU researcher co-authors wildfire severity study published in Science

Jan 10, 2025 | 6:00 PM

KAMLOOPS — A researcher out of Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops recently co-authored a study on wildfire severity and climate change that was published in Science, one of the world’s top academic journals.

Dr. Mike Flannigan is the scientific director of the university’s new Institute for Wildfire Science, Adaptation and Resiliency. The study he worked on looked into why fires in Canada have become more severe in recent decades. Flannigan hopes the information can be used to better understand wildfires and be more proactive in mitigating their damage.

In recent years, wildfires have become a prominent part of summer in British Columbia, but fire behaviour has been a daily interest for Flannigan since the 1970s.

“We expected fires are more severe — now this paper quantifies it,” he says of the latest publication. “It shows us our fires are getting more severe and that means an impact on the vegetation and on the land.”

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Part of what the study, entitled ‘Canadian forests are more conducive to high-severity fires in recent decades‘, found, is that dry vegetation, or ‘fuels’, is the most influential driver of burn severity in Canada.

“And that’s largely due to climate change, warming temperatures sucking that moisture out of those dead needles, leaves and twigs on the forest floor. That’s consistent with the other research we’ve been doing,” he notes.

According to Flannigan, more fires will also mean more smoke, which can bring on a host of negative health impacts for more than just the area experiencing wildfire activity.

“Fires in Quebec 1,000 kilometres away made life miserable for 100 million people on the northeastern seaboard in 2023,” says Flannigan, “so there are challenges abound for what’s coming with fire in Canada and the United States.”

The hope is, eventually, a better understanding of what’s making wildfire season worse will spur policy changes to address it on a large scale. But Flannigan says even on an individual level, the average person can make a difference.

“The public can play their role in many areas. You can prevent forest fires, respect fire. When you see a fire, report it right away because detection is really critical. Even under extreme conditions, if you can get to it quickly, [firefighters] can put it out,” he said.