2026 Wildfire Season

[daftandbarmy]

Meanwhile, bigger impacts for FN communities...

B.C. wildfires hit Indigenous reserves harder, human rights report says

VANCOUVER — A new report from British Columbia's Human Rights Commissioner says Indigenous reserves are four times more likely to face wildfires than non-reserve communities in the province.

www.timescolonist.com

 

[YZT580]

Meanwhile, bigger impacts for FN communities...

B.C. wildfires hit Indigenous reserves harder, human rights report says

VANCOUVER — A new report from British Columbia's Human Rights Commissioner says Indigenous reserves are four times more likely to face wildfires than non-reserve communities in the province.

www.timescolonist.com

considering their locations is it any surprise? They appear to be trying to create a racial problem that doesn't actually exist. When you live in an area surrounded by forest and that forest catches fire, your house is at risk. It doesn't matter if you are Hindu, English, Irish or Indigenous. It will burn. Since the areas are populated mainly by indigenous they will have the highest percentage of destruction.

 

[foresterab]

considering their locations is it any surprise? They appear to be trying to create a racial problem that doesn't actually exist. When you live in an area surrounded by forest and that forest catches fire, your house is at risk. It doesn't matter if you are Hindu, English, Irish or Indigenous. It will burn. Since the areas are populated mainly by indigenous they will have the highest percentage of destruction.

There is also the factor of small isolated communities with limited infrastructure vs. fires near larger urban centers......which ones get the media attention and political help fastest. It's also complicated as reserve lands are under Federal administration vs. provincial/territory in many cases which can affect things like fire department capacity/funding for fuel management.

Lastly...if I have a town of 200 people how many are of age, fitness, and willing to assist vs. pull everyone out. 1-5 people are not going to stop a crown fire but could be a statistic. And for many of the remote areas there's just as many challanges as getting resources in to support the community as there is to evacuate the civillians .

So after all that bad news there is one nice part....generally Indigenous communities treat fire fighters really well and you don't have the same degree of politics involved that would you have in other areas with mansions in the middle of the forest expecting all resources to save their home - "don't you know who I am" types.

But also think of things this way....a major crown fire might be spotting kilometers in advance of the flame....how big of a defensive, non-fuel perimeter do you need to protect everything. And it has to include every roof, porch, yard, municipal infrastructure. It's a big big task.

 

[foresterab]

And, unless I'm mistaken (which happens alot), no major military deployments under OP LENTUS ...

#winning

No major deployments - you can thank Mexico for having a ton of resources avaialble this year which hasn't always been the case.

But there has been 4 LENTUS deployments this year - two this summer for flooding (MB) and fire (ON).

 

[daftandbarmy]

And now, dealing with the aftermath...

As wildfire season winds down, people in B.C. communities are rebuilding their lives​

2026 has been one of the most devastating wildfire seasons on record for property destruction​

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/wildfire-recovery-bc-9.7357745

 

[daftandbarmy]

Because the scientists were enamored with the music from that decade?

Why are B.C. firefighters still using wildfire data from the 1990s?​

Forecasters say prediction models are underperforming during province's extreme fires​

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www.cbc.ca

 

[foresterab]

Because the scientists were enamored with the music from that decade?

Why are B.C. firefighters still using wildfire data from the 1990s?​

Forecasters say prediction models are underperforming during province's extreme fires​

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www.cbc.ca

A lot of the Canadian Fire Danger measurements are old....and many are based upon presecribed burn observations which are not done under extreme conditions.

So when you do deal with extreme drought....that's not modelled as you're into upper 90th percentile conditions and thats not when most fires start. However when you look at catastropic large scale fires they are often related to drought....

So you're balancing between how often your fires start and forecasted growth vs. extreme situations. Then you start dealing with local modifiers like growing climate, insect damage, windthrow, drought....hence why a Fire Behavior Analyst is such a specialized position and takes significant specialized training.

There is also alot of chatter around extreme weather events and impacts on fire growth. I'm still not clear how much of this is better documentation of fire events vs. historic fires. Something like Jasper in 2024 has already been anaylzed vastly more - due to modern documentation - than much larger and catastrophic fires like The Miramichi Fire of 1825 National Historic Event

For quick summery the link refers to a 1825 fire in what is now New Brunswick that burnt about 20% of the province and killed an estimated 500 people out of a population of 8500.

Location of the fire also means alot...if you're in a remote area modelling errors are okay as they're "good enough" and the FBAN can adjust for the next assesment. But when you are dealing with a community adjacent to the fire the expectation today is perfection and that's a much tougher bar to reach.

To put this in a context many of you may understand....it doesn't matter the battle plan you have...the enemy has a vote too. The difference here is instead of an armed opponent you're dealing with nature/weather which can be predicted...but gets a say as well.