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Winnipeg Free Press

Planning for the next fires — they're coming

Opinion As Manitobans flee from a dozen or more forest fires — some massive and others smaller, but threatening communities — we are in the midst of the largest mass evacuation since the 1950 Red River flood. What's going on? In two words — climate change. Let's stop dancing around the issue with nonsense about this simply being one of those extreme events that could have happened any time. This is a worldwide phenomenon. We now officially have a fifth season — fire season. And this is just a preview. We haven't even begun to exit the age of fossil fuels, and in fact under the 'leadership' of America, we are revisiting its golden age. Supplied by Gilles Gauthier Fire season may become a new and constant feature of the boreal forest. At the moment, as a nation whose total contribution of greenhouse gases is minimal, all we can do is throw everything we've got into adaptation to the rapidly accelerating effects of climate change. The four pillars of dealing with emergencies are: prevention, preparedness, response and recovery. Can we prevent forest fires? Of course not; they are an integral feature of ecosystem health in the boreal forest. What is striking about this year's conflagrations is their size, five exceeding 30,000 hectares, and one exceeding 125,000 hectares. Research has shown that under a natural fire regime individual fires are much, much smaller. The natural mosaic of age classes of forest growth ranging from fresh burns to ready-to-burn old growth and everything in between — an ecological law of the boreal if you like — presented natural fire breaks that limited fire size. What has upset this natural balance? We have. First, we established permanent and sometimes large communities in the boreal. To protect life and property, we have therefore aggressively suppressed fires, but in doing so have created large areas of kindling that will eventually catch fire; and with climate change-induced droughts and heat waves, eventually is never far off. We could have required companies leasing timber cutting rights to cut in smaller, non-contiguous blocks to mimic nature's mosaic, but we didn't. And regardless, logging results in the loss of nutrients essential for forest regeneration. Even the cause of these fires has not been natural. No lightning strikes this year; human hands, careless or otherwise, are responsible. There are already calls for the province to increase its preparedness budget — more water bombers, more trained firefighting crews appropriately equipped. Perhaps more resources are needed as long as it's recognized that Manitoba cannot afford to budget annually to meet an emergency of the magnitude of the one we now face. Yes, the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre does a great job in co-ordinating the shuttling of crews and water bombers between provinces to where they are most needed; but with simultaneous crises in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, this is not enough. We can't turn back the clock. We live and work in the boreal, so we will continue our immediate response tactics but with even greater intensity. And although the threat will not materialize every year, extreme temperatures and extended droughts will ensure that 2025 is not a one-off. We need a more strategic approach, not under the illusion that we will prevent all large-scale forest fires, but that there may be some things we might do to reduce the frequency of the large ones, and reduce the risk to life and property. Perhaps open burning should be banned — with appropriate penalties — unless specifically authorized, reversing the present policy. Are there ways to 'fireproof' communities through building codes and created fire breaks? Should all timber harvesting operations be required to harvest in patterns that replicate the natural mosaic? Natural Resources Canada — responsible for the admittedly small federal role in forest management — can finally play a useful role through a national program of training and equipping firefighting personnel and establishing a national fleet of water bombers deployable anywhere in Canada. We can accept the status quo and confine our actions to spending hundreds of millions of dollars every few years to douse fires and move people out of harm's way. But surely, we can do much more than that. But it will require a national effort. Wednesdays A weekly dispatch from the head of the Free Press newsroom. Our federal government is committed to funding 'nation building' projects. Actually, Canada has, in its recent travails, proven quite strong. I would prefer to see the government of Canada undertake 'national preservation' projects, none more urgent, complex and expensive than climate change adaptation. Instead of, or in addition to bricks and mortar, how about a national energy grid and re-engineered water management infrastructure; oh, and a complete rethink on how we manage our forests. Norman Brandson is the former deputy minister of the Manitoba departments of environment, conservation and water stewardship.