By Tom Mark

A Video Look at Better Understanding Wildfires

May 14, 2018 | 7:21 AM

Vernon’s Acting Fire Chief hopes people will come out tonight to watch a video on how wildfires spark.

The “Era of Megafires” is a presentation of the city, North 40 Productions and the U-S Forest Service.

Chief David Lind says the film shows how wildfire strategies need to change.

“What we’re finding is some of the things we’re doing just are not enough and we need to have a good look at what we’re doing and the approaches were using, the tools we’re putting into place to make sure we increase safety.”

Vernon escaped having major wildfires in 2017, but David Lind reminds people they have to be mindful of preventing fires.

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Part of that are techniques to manage the forests, but government policy isn’t always compatible.

“What we find a lot of time is our government policy and our regulation around clean air is prohibiting or restricting the ability to address the fuel loads that we need to.”

Chief Lind says there are some practical solutions.

“A prescribed burn of some fuels may generate some smoke for a day, some light smoke for a day in a certain area, in a localized area. When you get into these megafires, they’re uncontrollable and we end up in this heavy, dense smoke that lasts months at a time.”

He says the film shines a new light on the issue.

Lind says there will also be discussion on what’s going on in the city of Vernon to control wildland interface issues.

He says a lot of the stakeholders in the region will be there, including forestry, local fire services – BX, Armstrong, Coldstream and others.

The Chief says it’s an opportunity for the community to come together and get a better understanding of some of the challenges facing the region and walking away with some real practical solutions to some of the issues.

The film tonight is at the Schubert Centre at 7 o’clock and admission is free.

by Tom Mark