Film exploring options to reduce wildfire risks will be screened in Vernon

Jun 25, 2025 | 11:18 AM

An independent documentary that investigates options to reduce wildfire activity in British Columbia will be shown in Vernon Thursday evening.

B.C. is Burning, a film by long-time Vernon resident and retired forester, Murray Wilson, explores how other jurisdictions around the world actively manage their forests and prevent wildfires.

“Finland is about the third of the size of British Columbia and they harvest about double the amount [of wood] that we do. In the last 10 years, they’ve had five years with zero hectares burnt, and they average around 300 hectares burnt each year, [compared to B.C. where], since 2017, we’re averaging over 900,000 hectares burnt every year,” Wilson told Vernon Matters.

“Obviously there’s something we can learn from the Finns. They very intensely manage their forests, they use all the fibre from it, they use it for electricity and for heat.

“We can also learn from [northern] California. They’ve dramatically changed what they’re doing and they are trying to increase forest management throughout the state, so they want to actively manage their forests. That’s the big message for us, we need to actively manage our forests, not just leave it alone.”

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Wilson added the province could also be managing forest density, breaking them up with openings and different aged trees and plants to reduce the risk of a fire spreading rapidly once ignited.

The 45-minute documentary explores these fire risk reduction models through a series of interviews with government representatives, scientists specializing in wildfires, people impacted by these disasters, and others.

In addition to raising awareness of the opportunities available to reduce wildfire risks, Wilson also hoped people would see there are options to address these events and call for action to be taken.

“British Columbia has a pretty unique position because 94 per cent of the land base is owned or managed by government and First Nations, so that means we can change our direction relatively easily because our forests are highly regulated, so if we have the will to reduce wildfires in this province, given that we have one or two main entities that are responsible for it, we can make that change relatively quickly,” Wilson explained.

“What we need to happen, I say in the film that the world is run by those who show up, and we need people. There’s sample letters [as well as FireSmart tips on my website] that people can use to write to the Premier, their MP, their MLA, their Mayor, that say ‘we want to get serious about reducing wildfire risk in our province.’ There are solutions out there, and it [involves] actively managing our forests.”

The film, which was produced by Edge Digital Media in Kelowna and supported through community contributions, will be screened at the Vernon and District Performing Arts Centre at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 26. Ticket information can be found here.

A trailer for B.C. Is Burning can be seen below, with Wilson saying he will be making the entire film available on YouTube in the coming months after it has been screened in select communities.