By Bill Phillips

It was a little unnerving Thursday afternoon … sitting on my deck watching the water bombers buzz about just a few kilometres away.

A small fire southwest of Miworth was the object of their attention. After a few passes, the bombers moved on so, with fingers crossed, I assumed (hoped) the blaze was extinguished.

With it looking to be another hot, dry summer, there is some real concern being raised about how bad the forest fire season could be this year. The other exacerbating factor, of course, is the massive tracts of beetle-killed forest out there just waiting for a spark.

Ever since the beetles marched through northern B.C. a decade or so ago, we’ve known that the dead timber was going to be a fire hazard eventually. The question now is whether we did enough to mitigate that hazard.

In response to the beetle-kill, cut levels were elevated just about everywhere to get as much beetle-killed timber out of the forest. However, it was no secret, even 15 years ago, that the drastically elevated cut levels would only remove a fraction of the beetle-killed timber from the forest. Was there ever a plan to deal with the rest of the dead timber? Not really. Sadly, we looked only for an economic solution to what was, essentially, an environmental disaster. It’s kind of like organizing an oil spill clean up with the mindset of only recovering the oil that can be reconstituted and sold again. The damage remains.

Bob Simpson, when he was the New Democrat forestry critic, harped on about “forest health,” which basically involves taking a more holistic approach to forest management. Being that he was in opposition, and a mouthy thorn in the side of the Liberal government, his cries were largely dismissed and ignored.

This year’s early-season Little Bobtail Lake fire has driven the point home that the state of our forests is a real concern. And Simpson, now the mayor of Quesnel, is sounding the alarm bells again. He accused the government of not managing the forests with fire prevention in mind. While he pointed out that 10 years ago was the time to do something about the looming fire hazard, he also put forward some solutions.

And he’s not the only one. Vanderhoof Mayor Gerry Thiessen is also sounding the alarm bells, worried that it’s just a matter of time before a northern community gets in the way of a raging forest fire.

The early-season conflagration known as the Little Bobtail Lake fire, is almost directly south of Vanderhoof and west of Quesnel, so they have reason to be worried, as should the rest of us.

Both Simpson and Thiessen are calling on the provincial government to conduct more prescribed burns. They are also suggesting that more preventative work be done such as creating fire-breaks in high-risk areas long before fires actually start.

They are also suggesting that more be done to eliminate the massive amounts of slash piles up in cutblocks everywhere.

Thiessen is suggesting a return to burning slash piles. I’m not so sure that’s the best way to deal with the debris. I agree more with Simpson, who is suggesting a commercial use be found for it.

One benefit from the beetle infestation is that it spawned the bio-energy sector. We now have businesses exporting wood pellets around the world, we have local institutions heated solely by wood waste from local mills. We are finding ways to deal with wood waste.

The problem is, there’s still so much of it out there. In addition, a bigger threat to the forest than slash piles, is the dead timber, now starting to collapse a clutter for the forest floor … known as deadfall. When the Chilko Lake fire raged in the West Chilcotin in 2003, the deadfall was so thick that firefighters couldn’t walk through the forest to attack hot spots. The forest itself was one big slash pile.

So what are we doing? Forest Minister Steve Thomson told the CBC that the province, while setting a budget to fight forest fires, will spend whatever it takes to battle fires. As for preventative measures, the province has conducted 16 prescribed burns this year.

Is it enough? Ask anyone under a fire alert or evacuation order.

If the North burns this year, or next, who will be holding the fiddle?

Bill Phillips is a freelance columnist living in Prince George. He was the winner of the 2009 Best Editorial award at the British Columbia/Yukon Community Newspaper Association’s Ma Murray awards, in 2007 he won the association’s Best Columnist award. In 2004, he placed third in the Canadian Community Newspaper best columnist category and, in 2003, placed second. He can be reached at billphillips1@mac.com