Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents -  “When you talk about fuel, most people think about fuel for a vehicle or fuel for something like that, but fuel for a forest fire is wood on the ground or standing wood? the idea is to reduce the fuel load to reduce the severity of a fire. As it approaches that location, the fire will slow down and most likely drop to the ground because we've opened up canopy. The danger trees have been removed and the debris on the ground's been removed. So it would be a lot easier for firefighters to make a stand,” explained Tor Ellingsen of Reef Point falling.

He was talking about the recently completed Cortes Island Recycling Centre wildfire mitigation project.

Ellingsen was born and raised on Cortes. His parents were Bruce and Ginny Ellingsen.

His wife, Kate Mclean, is from Quadra Island. They have two employees, one from Quadra and the other living on Cortes.

“My wife has 17 years wildfire fighting experience with the provincial government. She started as just a regular firefighter and by the time she decided to quit, she was an administrator. She was still a firefighter, but she was in charge of a fire,” explained Ellingsen.

“I've been an industry follower, hand faller for 20 plus years. Nowadays you have to be a limited company. You have to cover your own workers' compensation, cover yourself to work in the woods. I think I founded Reef Point Falling in 2011.”

“I decided, after marrying my wife, that I wanted to slow down and not work as much as I had just falling trees. So Kate and I started this company a little over a year ago, keeping the same name because it simplifies things for WCB rates and liability insurance and all the things we need to do a project like this.”

“We're actually going to start a new company. We're just waiting for a name clarification, whether the name we want is available or not for a new limited company because Reef Point Falling we feel isn't the best name for wildfire mitigation company.”

Shuan Koopman, the District’s Protective Services Coordinator,

emailed this was the Strathcona Regional District’s (SRD) first fuel management program on Cortes Island.

“This 4 hectare project was fully funded under the 2021 FireSmart Economic Recovery grant.”

It was also one of four parcels that Koopman and Mark Lombard, General Manager of the Cortes Forestry General Partnership, identified as top priorities for fuel tratment. There was sufficient marketable timber in Anvil Lake and Carrington/Coulter Bay projects, but the recycling depot was one of two projects in Squirrel Cove that were not commercially viable.

In an interview last year, Lombard said, “There's not enough merchantable timber in there to pay for them. So those ones we're going to get funding for, to do those treatments. We won't be able to sell any logs from those, but we'll make any logs available as firewood.