MARCH 2018 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC


Wildfire season offers valuable lessons Island farmers can learn from last summers wildfires in the Cariboo


by TOM WALKER


DUNCAN – “Plan for it to happen and make a plan.” That was the message Island producers received in a series of workshops at the Islands Agriculture Show in Duncan at the beginning of February. While most people don’t associate Canada’s ‘Wet Coast’ with wildfires, a major fire event is a genuine risk on Vancouver Island. The interface of Crown and private woodlands and small mixed farms with population centres along the island’s south and east coasts means that even a small wildfire could have major consequences.


The southern half of


Vancouver Island is in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains of Washington and can go months without rainfall in the summer, leading to drought conditions. The island’s east coast, being in the rainshadow of mountains that form the island’s spine, can experience similar conditions. Dry standing grass and


logging slash can fuel the rapid spread of fires once ignited. Douglas Fir forests can experience stress from lack of moisture, leading to dry and dropped needles, creating another potent fuel source. “It may only happen every


300 years on the island, but major fires do occur,” says wildfire technician Dimitri Vaisius from the BC Wildfire Service’s Cobble Hill base. As part of the livestock


emergency preparedness project that the BC Agriculture & Food Climate Action Initiative (CAI) and Cowichan Valley Regional District undertook in response to needs identified in the Cowichan Regional Adaptation Strategy, CAI hosted the workshop at the Islands Agriculture Show. “We do see a reluctance on


the part of Island farmers to take the topic of wildfires very seriously,” says Derek Messelink, the government’s regional agrologist for southern Vancouver Island. “It needs to be one part of your emergency preparedness plan.” It took the crisp words of an insurance salesman to get the room’s attention. “You are obligated under


your policy to mitigate losses,” says Don Hatton, owner of Hatton Insurance in Duncan. “It’s important to not let your guard down, even here on the island.”


Since the family home is usually part of the farm, Hatton said many farmers tend to overlook the need to develop a plan for it. “If your business was in a


warehouse across town, you’d have an emergency plan for that business site,” he pointed out. “But often families don’t do this for their home.” Cordy Cox joined the panel


by phone and spoke about what happened this summer at the 1,000 cow-calf operation she operates with her husband Clint Ellis in both Kleena Kleene and Anahim Lake, west of Williams Lake.


Less calving problems, stronger newborn calves, higher quality colostrum.


Calving ease.


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The devastation left behind by the wildfires that ripped through the Cariboo last summer are a stark reminder of how vulnerable anyone who lives near forested areas is. AVERY MURRAY PHOTO


“Most producers in the


Cariboo are fairly well prepared to deal with an emergency such as a fire,” says Cox. “We have large equipment, we have experience, and we have a plan.”


But even that wasn’t enough to prepare Cox and Ellis for what unfolded.


See FIRE on next page o


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