2026 Wildfire Season

[lenaitch]

Fun fact about wood pellets from the 807 area code, feeding into the "how change is managed well or not" narrative.

Around 2015, Ontario converted a power generation plant in Thunder Bay from coal to wood pellets.

And where did they have to get the wood pellets? Norway.

That was before it was shut down, then demolished

More here:

Thunder Bay Generating Station - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I know very little about the industry but I have heard that the quality/type of wood pellet used for fuel is very plant or burner specific. There was a pellet plant just outside of Wawa that shipped to, if I recall correctly, the UK (if not, certainly overseas).

Ironically the hydro dam at Kakabecca Falls - just outside of Thunder Bay - was built over a century ago for powering the pulp mill. So there are some successes as well.

Many of the older hydro-electric stations in northern Ontario were originally privately built and owned and located either adjacent or nearby a pulp mill. It was not all that long ago a couple of them were still 25Hz because that's what the mill equipment was designed for and they felt it wasn't economical to change it all out. The generating stations north of SSM were built primarily to power Algoma Steel.

 

[lenaitch]

It's not so bad if you have reliable weather and it's not bitter cold.

Trying to log at -40 is very hard on the equipment...like any other gear outside. At cold but not bitter cold it can sometimes actually speed up logging as things like branches snap off easier with processors and logs slide easier with skidders....

But when you're trying to take a full years harvest off in a few months you have major challenges with:

• labour force. You're now a seasonal employer with challenges to find enough folks at key times
• weather. One warm spell can cause chaos. Especially if the roads don't freeze in
• occurred costs (paying loggers for wood delivered) vs. loss of wood quality due to age vs. time to produce product and make money. Was told years ago $1/m3 per month in cost for stored wood...no idea how true it is. If your mill consumes a million m3/year it adds up quick
• equipment costing is much higher due to short season = higher per hr rates needed to offset short working window.

Unfortunately muskeg - which is a form of wetland - often has poor growing sites and so not only are you dealing with the fun of access but you're also dealing with often poor form and poorer quality trees.

My dad worked in the mines in northeastern Ontario and northwestern Quebec in the 1930s when they were still pushing through the Ferguson Highway (Hwy 11), and told stories to construction equipment becoming stuck in the muskeg and by the next morning, completely gone, and I was just reading a similar story about a locomotive that went to ground and sank away before they could recover it.

 

[GR66]

Many fire crews are seasonal but I'm not aware that they are summer students. Too high risk, too specialized. The MNR still hires summer students for park staff and other support roles. They haven't had their Junior Ranger program for years.

One problem with full time fire crews is what to do with them in the off-season. They might have some utility to loan to jurisdictions that are seasonally opposite, but then the province is carrying salaries, benefits and pensions for the benefit of others.

Provincial Emergency Preparedness organizations like Ontario Corps should have a full-time cadre of trained personnel available to respond to a variety of emergency situations year round (fires, floods, wind storms, ice/snow storms, etc.).

As the military threats in the World increase the Provinces should wean themselves off using the military as the emergency responder of choice. What happens if the military has to deploy or even mobilize and aren't available?

 

[Cloud Cover]

There are many college and university students employed as wildfire crew in BC.

A few years back a young woman - I believe a nursing student - lost her life near Revelstoke 30 miles due east of here working on the far end of a line falling trees. It was really quite sad and the community did not take it well.

 

[foresterab]

There are many college and university students employed as wildfire crew in BC.

A few years back a young woman - I believe a nursing student - lost her life near Revelstoke 30 miles due east of here working on the far end of a line falling trees. It was really quite sad and the community did not take it well.

BC Wildfire firefighter’s death caused by ‘multiple violations,’ report finds | Globalnews.ca

Despite these concerns being raised, the tree was not assessed and workers were only told to use a 'heads-up' approach and stay away if they felt uncomfortable.

globalnews.ca

Unfortunately she was just one of 6 firefighters killed that season in BC + 1 in the NWT + 1 Pilot in AB. 2023 was a crappy year.
2024 wasn't much better with one fire fighter from AB and another un the NWT
2025 I don't know of any wildland staff killed but 2 civilians were in MB
2026 - 3 in the NWT to date.

The attached report provides some context on wildland fatalities between 1940-2010. https://www.frames.gov/documents/catalog/alexander_and_buxton-carr_2011.pdf

Since 2010 though the tempo has really increased and I haven't seen updated stats.

There's too many names on the memorials is all I know.
foresterab

 

[brihard]

Community - including those communities who don't think of wildfire risk a lot such as Toronto, Calgary etc.

• Get serious about development permits and landscaping. Conifers make for poor landscape choices due to the way they can shower embers. Tree free areas immediately around trees. Note this also helps with some of the issues with wind damage if you dont' have tree limbs over the house.
• Materials used. While I love the look of a cedar shake roof...that in the middle of forest is not a good combination for roofs. Asphalt shingles aren't much better. If I get a insurance break for having a backflow preventer on the sewage line why not one for a less flammable roof.
• Adopt the Red River Valley policy. If you're impacted by a fire once...there may be assistance but only if you build to X standard. Rebuild what was there before and no assistance is available. Hence why homes in the Red River valley are on build up foundations above the anticipated flood level.
• Access. If you have a large subdivision/industrial site with a single exit start building alternatives. Doesn't have to be fancy just useable if there is an issue on the primary access route.
• Clear the debris out of the river valley/bike paths/surrounding forest around the town. If you can reduce both the amount of fuel and the ladder type fuels that will help drive crown fire you have much better chances of being able to deal with surface fire than crown fire.
• Large critical infrastructure should be designed in such a way that either pumps can very quickly be added or better yet have back up water tanks beside them. Tough to run on town water if power is out... Large defensible spaces are needed around these...but they could also double as soccer fields, lawns, etc.

Nationally

• I want to see a reliable communications method - cell towers work with back up generators - and at least at each community administration center a satellite back up. Lack of communications has hampered both response and evacuations
• Continue the work of some of the national project proposals to try to link isolated communities with the country. Can both military value but also economic development opportunities created.
• Creation of a seasonal battalion of reservists? Rangers? To be determined. Picturing 20 man platoons, 100 man companies. 4x4 pick up and basic hand tools/chainsaws hired for summer months - May-Aug and possible a short term July-Aug option where basic fire fighting training is done, ICS command and they remain a national asset. When not deployed they move between communities doing wildfire, flood and hurricane risk reduction work focusing upon federal lands and remote communities.
• Expansion of the RCAF by at least one full squadron of transports. C-130 might have more military value but Dash 8-Q400 would also work. For building up both pilot training hours and expansion
• Increased work with NGO's like Red Cross, Team Rubicon, CANTASK #... trained uniformed bodies help take the pressure out of community evacuations.
• Change of legislation to support volunteer fire fighters, emergency responders (see Team Rubicon above for example), CAF reservists on job protection. Be generous on employer support (claim wages back etc).
• Create a medal for those serving on declared emergencies in Canada. A medal for some is nothing...but others it's huge. Australia has a good working example of this with most of their fires not eligible.
• expansion of airstrips - especially in the north - for larger planes. Even small bush plane strips can form great heli-bases.
• Promotion of both pellet mills and power plants based off of wood products. This becomes critical if you have low value, small diameter trees but are fine for pellets. Pellets burn well, the power or heating plant can be scaled from single building to community level, and they don't have the same issues as products such as diesel in case of spills.
• Continue the ongoing investment into tools such as the Fire Detection Satellite system so that more passes occur.

Landscape wide:

• I want to see more fire introduced - especially around communities - earlier. This includes all parks and protected areas as failing to address them creates a situation that nature loves. Parks Canada has many examples of this ranging from Jasper/Banff to smaller ones out east like Point Pelee, ON. There is a growing legal liability issue - creeping in from the US - that also needs to be looked at.
• If conditions/risk are so high that burning is not an option then logging needs to be looked at more. Not clear cutting but patch logging/selective logging to keep both the aesthetic values while reducing risk.
• We need to look at some forest management practices especially near high value areas. Herbicide use, reforestation species, end goal of management.

Training:

• Continue the work of CIFFC on standardizing terminology and training courses. Drives me nuts when Ontario uses Not Under Control instead of Being Held like the rest of the province.
• work on online courses. Some work has been done but this needs to be expanded.
• Would love to see a training portal that shows deployment experience, training courses, certification levels. Include structural fire departments on this, CAF on OP LENTUS etc.

There's more but got the word I'm deploying so need to change focus and prepare for the upcoming challange.
foresterab

Thank you and be safe!

 

[lenaitch]

Provincial Emergency Preparedness organizations like Ontario Corps should have a full-time cadre of trained personnel available to respond to a variety of emergency situations year round (fires, floods, wind storms, ice/snow storms, etc.).

As the military threats in the World increase the Provinces should wean themselves off using the military as the emergency responder of choice. What happens if the military has to deploy or even mobilize and aren't available?

Agree with part two. Once you create a full-time cadre of anything, they are no longer volunteers, they are civil servants. If you're going to have full-time employees for fires, they might as well be with the MNR, and you are back to what to do with them in the off-season. There can be cross-training, but the 'other job' needs to be one that can get away with not happening for several months per year.