ROTHENBURGER: Early praise for firefighting efforts often turns to criticism

One ignition point for controversy, if you’ll excuse the pun, is the strategy of controlled backburning to create a buffer of expended fuel in front of the advancing wildfire. Small fires are purposely set along a human-made or natural fire break.

It’s effective but it requires careful planning and the right weather conditions. And it’s always open to accusations that it has done more harm than good.

This year, claims are being made that the Bush Creek East fire, formed by a merger of two fires at Adams Lake and which then overtook the Shuswap, was made worse by a bungled backburn that should never have been attempted due to windy conditions.

The other side of the story, from BC Wildfire Service, is that the same backburn actually saved land and property and had no effect on the convergence of the two fires, which skirted the backburn.

As usual, it’s the leadership of the Wildfire Service that’s being blamed rather than the frontline firefighters but imagine how those who make the decisions feel when their best efforts are met with scorn.

Certainly, there are always lessons to be learned. In past years, some glaring errors have been made, and maybe some are being made now. But until there’s something more convincing than speculation, I’ll put my faith in the experts.

I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.

Mel Rothenburger is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.

by Mel Rothenburger

ROTHENBURGER: Early praise for firefighting efforts often turns to criticism

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