We have all seen the news footage of wildfires raging through our wild places, threatening homes and lives. Many of us have even been impacted by the threat of these fires or lost our homes to them. Others will have experienced the mid-afternoon blanket of smoke that blots out the sun and turns on the streetlamps. As a society, we are becoming more and more aware of wildfire as a threat. But how did we get here? Why are fires so rampant today? And how do we learn to live in this new reality? How can we learn to live with fire?

Resources

Mike Flannigan

World on Fire

Mapping Canadian wildland fire interface areas

Canada Wildfire

Sponsors

West Fraser

GreenLink Forestry Inc.

Damaged Timber

Giveaway

Enter YourForest10 at checkout at the Damaged Timber store for a 10% discount!

Quotes

57.37 - 57.41: “Fire is a multifaceted problem, it needs a multi-pronged solution.”

Takeaways

Fire people (05.33)

Mike has been interested in fire since childhood, as well as the weather. At the University of Alberta, he has been researching fire, weather and climate change.

Fuel, ignition, weather (09.18)

Mike lists the three ingredients of a fire - fuel, ignition and weather. Global warming dries the grass (fuel), and increases lightning (ignition), so fires increase.

Fuel build-up (19.27)

Mike explains what fuel build-up can mean in different situations and landscapes and how often prescribed burning can be done.

How we manage the landscape is important (25.43)

Mike blames climate change and humans in equal part for the increase in wildfires. Different ecosystems recover differently from fires.

Fire preparedness (29.52)

Being one of the two main ignition agents, humans can prevent fires by decreasing activities that can ignite them. Mike suggests increasing fire bans, forest closures and education.

Pros and cons of fire (35.10)

Parks Canada views fires as an educational opportunity. Mike reiterates that fire is natural and at times, healthy and beneficial. However, wildfire smoke is toxic and fatal.

Good fire (38.30)

Communicating the message that fire is beneficial can pale compared to the powerful visuals people see of fire destruction but Mike believes public education will dispel the myths and provide context.

Bringing fire back (46.15)

Mike explains that Indigenous peoples have been using fire for thousands of years and see it as natural and beneficial. We need to do more research on how to get more fire on landscapes.

Once burned, twice shy (53.33)

The prescribed burning window is quite short and is getting shorter due to climate change. Smoke and loss of life present huge challenges to prescribed burning.

Let it burn (59.28)

Mike lists the appropriate responses to a fire - allowing patchwork mosaic prescribed burning in the appropriate burning window, timely fire response, and reporting a fire when seen.

The circle of wildfire (1.09.30)

Mike notes some examples where Indigenous peoples are in charge of burning programs and believes it is up to the landowners to promote, encourage, foster and listen to good fire.

Human contribution (1.17.34)

Mike highlights how peats are huge carbon banks, and peat fires can have massive fossil fuel emissions. Permafrost thawing will be 20 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.