The Get FireSmart Podcast

In our second conversation with Mike McCulley, we dive into his experience at the 2023 Wildfire Resiliency and Training Summit. Mike is a Research and Innovation Senior Officer at BC Wildfire Service and has worked for the BC Ministry of Forests for 28 years. He’s currently leading the BC Wildfire Service Research and Innovation program. This episode explores Mike’s takeaways from the conference—the people he spoke to, the lessons he learned, and a deeper understanding of his background and why he loves this line of work. For Mike, it all comes down to people and establishing relationships so that we can continue to tackle wildfires around the globe. 

This episode was recorded live at the 2023 Wildfire Resiliency and Training Summit.

Links:

To learn more about FireSmart BC visit firesmartbc.ca

Learn more about the Wildfire Resiliency and Training Summit: https://firesmartbc.ca/wildfire-resiliency-and-training-summit/

To explore the BC Wildfire Service website, visit https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/safety/wildfire-status 

Watch FireSmart BC Videos: https://vimeo.com/firesmartbc

Final Podcast Assets:

AUDIO: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ol1-kXeCP5H2VU6yLamd_1A15qrUcs-y

Mike McCulley is a Research and Innovation Senior Officer at BC Wildfire Service. In today’s episode, we begin the first of two parts and dive into Mike’s career on the front lines of wildfires. Mike specializes in working with both data and people—which are two things your average person doesn’t often think about when considering a wildfire. He shares stories of impact that stood out to him during his career, significant lessons learned, and the importance of FireSmart and wildfire resiliency. Mike has worked for the BC Ministry of Forests for 28 years and is currently leading the BC Wildfire Service Research and Innovation program. 

Links:

To learn more about FireSmart BC visit firesmartbc.ca

To explore the BC Wildfire Service website, visit https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/safety/wildfire-status 

Watch FireSmart BC Videos: https://vimeo.com/firesmartbc

This episode features Brian Hutchinson, Fire Chief for the District of North Vancouver. In our conversation with Chief Hutchinson, we speak about his personal background, his passion for wildfire and his focus on training and developing his team and community to become more resilient to wildfire. This episode also highlights his involvement as the host fire department of the 2023 Summit and he touches on how the conference came to be, the planning it took to bring it to life over the past two years as well as the focus on the main theme - Partners in Progress. 

This episode was recorded live at the 2023 Wildfire Resiliency and Training Summit.

Links:

To learn more about FireSmart BC visit firesmartbc.ca

Learn more about the Wildfire Resiliency and Training Summit: https://firesmartbc.ca/wildfire-resiliency-and-training-summit/

Watch FireSmart BC Videos: https://vimeo.com/firesmartbc

This special episode features Deanne Suddaby and Brittany Seibert, both proud recipients of the 2023 Lynn Orstad Award. In our conversation today, we speak with Deanne and Brittany about their professional background, their personal passion for wildfire,  and their experience building their careers focused on wildfire resiliency. 

Brittany Seibert is currently the Emergency Program Coordinator for the City of Penticton as well as working with the BC Wildfire Service as a Structure Protection Specialist. Brittany was grateful to be recognized for her impactful work through the Lynn Orstad Award. She is also deeply honoured to be recognized in memory of someone who was such a positive influence on everyone who worked with her. 

Deanne Suddaby is currently the FireSmart Program Advisor for FireSmart BC and FireSmart Alberta. She had the opportunity to work directly with Lynn Orstad in the past and is humbled to have been nominated and chosen for the award. Deanne is thankful that Lynn’s incredible legacy lives on through this award.

Links:

Learn more about the Lynn Orstad Award: https://firesmartbc.ca/lynnorstadaward/

To learn more about the FireSmart BC program visit firesmartbc.ca

To learn more about FireSmart Canada visit: https://firesmartcanada.ca/

Watch FireSmart BC Videos: https://vimeo.com/firesmartbc

Keep your eye out in Winter of 2023 for the 2024 Lynn Orstad Nominations to open! 

In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Mike Flannigan from Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia. As an award-winning researcher and leading expert on wildfire behaviour and landscape fire modelling, his research goals include developing methods to help predict when and where extreme fire weather may arise and exploring the development of early warning wildfire notification systems. His passion for fire and weather has led him to work directly with the BC Wildfire Service to help predict wildfire activity and behaviour and assist them in preparing for and responding to wildfires in the province.

In our conversation with Mike, we lean into his research and extensive time spent studying wildfire as he shares his past experience learning how fire moves, how it consumes fuel and the insights that are constantly changing. 

Links:

Follow Dr. Flannigan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mikeflannigan

Learn more about his research at: https://www.mikeflannigan.com/

To learn more about the FireSmart BC program and other partnerships across the province, visit firesmartbc.ca

As an entrepreneur and former firefighter, Robert has spent his career building tools and solutions to increase access to information by firefighters, fire managers and decision-makers. He is passionate about the way new technologies can better inform decision-making, safety and public expenditure. Also, fire. He loves fire.

In this episode, Robert discusses the impact that technology can have on fire and how it can assist in fighting wildfire including remotely piloted aircraft systems and wildfire intelligence fire drone mapping.  He also shares stories from his background in firefighting and how it led him to kickstart his own company. This is a great episode for anyone interested in the intersection of wildfire and technology and the future of fire. 

Links:

For more information about Hummingbird Drones, visit https://www.hummingbirddrones.ca/:

For more information about Fire AI, visit https://www.fireai.io/:

To learn more about the FireSmart BC program and other partnerships across the province, visit firesmartbc.ca

Mike Morrow is a Wildfire Prevention Officer who has worked with the BC Wildfire Service for over four decades. Since his first role as an auxiliary silviculture tech, his career has taken him across the province, including Nakusp, Port McNeill, Vanderhoof and Cranbrook.

In this episode, Mike shares stories from working on the front lines and reflects on his vast experience in the wildfire landscape, including some unique projects he has participated in. He also shares his outlook on how the industry has changed over the years and the importance of adopting FireSmart principles to live in a world with wildfire.

Links:

*Note: the Guardians of the Grasslands project was misquoted during this episode. Mike meant to refer to the Too Close to Home video, which explains the cattle grazing project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-An1z8XMxs

For more information about Cultural Burning and Prescribed Fire, visit prescribedfire.ca

To learn more about the FireSmart BC program and other partnerships across the province, visit firesmartbc.ca

In this episode, we interview two guests; Peter Holub, Wildfire Prevention Officer with BC Wildfire Service, and Sarah Sigurdson, co-owner of Cariboo Art Beat, a Williams Lake art collective and studio.  

This discussion highlights how BC’s history of fire suppression has led to a loss of Indigenous culture and an increased risk of wildfires. Because of this, younger Indigenous generations did not grow up with fire and were disconnected from this generational practice, relying on elders to learn about good fire and its ability to clean and manage the land.

Peter and Sarah discuss how they developed art-based workshops in the Cariboo focused on cultural burning to support Indigenous fire stewardship and reinvigorate the teaching of fire knowledge, beliefs, and values.

They share about the two First Nation communities who participated in the workshops (Williams Lake First Nation and the Yunesit’in First Nation), including what the feedback was from participants, and if they plan to facilitate more workshops in the future. 

This is a great episode to learn more about cultural burning, Indigenous fire stewardship and traditional knowledge, and the importance of recognizing the history of Indigenous peoples. 

Links:

Learn more about their initiative: https://prescribedfire.ca/reigniting-cultural-burning-through-painting/

Cariboo Art Beat: https://caribooartbeat.square.site/

Related Article: https://www.hopestandard.com/community/cariboo-art-beat-workshops-combine-fire-and-art/

For more information about Prescribed Fire and Cultural Burning visit https://prescribedfire.ca/

Visit https://firesmartbc.ca/ to learn more about the program and other partnerships across the province

In this episode, we interview Dave Pascal, a Cultural & Prescribed Fire Specialist with the First Nations Emergency Services Society (FNESS). Dave discusses the importance of cultural and prescribed fire in British Columbia and the work he's doing to revitalize these practices with First Nations. 

This is a great episode to learn more about the meaning and difference between cultural and prescribed fire, as well as the many ways FNESS is working to assist Nations with funding, burn site identification, and resource management.

Links:

Connect with Dave and the FNESS team at https://www.fness.bc.ca/

For more information about Prescribed Fire and Cultural Burning visit https://prescribedfire.ca/

Visit https://firesmartbc.ca/ to learn more about the program and other partnerships across the province

In today’s episode, we are speaking with Jennifer Gunter, the Executive Director of the British Columbia Community Forest Association (BCCFA). In our conversation with Jennifer, we dive into what a Community Forest is, how the association came to be and the role they play in forest land management in communities all across the province. 

This is a great episode to learn more about Community Forests, the role of collaboration, and the role that FireSmart plays in our communities and in our ecosystems.

This episode was recorded live at the FireSmart BC conference in Kamloops, BC.

Links:

Learn more about the BC Community Forest Association at https://bccfa.ca/

18 Indicators of Benefits Report: https://bccfa.ca/indicators-report/

Learn more about FireSmart BC: https://firesmartbc.ca/

Listen to the Podcast Episode about the Harrop Proctor Community Forest with Erik Leslie