Thursday, August 31, 2023 edition - Are BC officials brave enough to take the heat?

Thursday, August 31, 2023 | 🌦️ High 19C

Good morning!

One of my chores when I was younger involved setting things on fire. Our house was surrounded by poplar forests, and every spring or so my mom (a former firefighter) would haul the deadfall into big piles and we would light it up when the weather was co-operating. I didn’t realize why we did that until reading today’s story.

Also, today is the last day of The Current’s summer membership sale. Become a member here.

WORTH KNOWING

🌤 Local forecast: Langley | Chilliwack | Abbotsford | Hope

⚠️ Here’s the current smoke forecast / Check the BC Wildfire Dashboard here

🚘 Driving today? Check the current traffic situation via Google, and find DriveBC’s latest updates.

NEWS

Why BC's forests are still full of wildfire fuel

Of all the ways to protect BC communities from increasingly furious wildfire seasons, few have been as widely endorsed as the tactical, controlled use of fire.

Both experts and provincial officials say fire is one of the best ways to clear forested areas of dangerous (and unnaturally large) amounts of dead underbrush and dry vegetation. But by all measures, BC’s governments are failing to meet the moment, leaving the province’s forests increasingly vulnerable not just to fire—but to intense, quick-moving firestorms that can overwhelm firefighters and destroy hundreds of homes.

BC’s forest minister Bruce Ralston recently attributed the slow progress on mitigating BC’s forest fuel threat to a lack of willingness by communities to apply for existing funding.

But conversations with fire experts, local emergency officials, and the province’s own staff reveal the issues are much deeper and more complex than that. They involve bureaucratic obstacles, human resource challenges, funding caps, and the weather itself. And looming just as large is a political and philosophical question: Are BC’s risk-averse institutions brave enough to take the heat if and when a burn gets out of control?

• Today, Tyler tries to get to the bottom of why the province has been unable to scale up its use of fire to fight fire.

Need to know

💐 A new colourful metal flower sculpture has been put up in Langley [Langley Advance Times]

👮‍♂️ The Abbotsford Police department is in the process of removing a homeless encampment near Highway 1 [Abbotsford Police Department/Facebook]

🔥 One of five new wildfires discovered along Harrison Lake last week is being held [Agassiz-Harrison Observer]

🚑️ Two men were hospitalized after a fight in Sardis early Wednesday morning [Fraser Valley Today]

🚔️ A 25-year-old woman, who frequents Mission and Maple Ridge, is wanted by Burnaby RCMP in connection to a vehicle incident resulted in the death of a 75-year-old pedestrian [Mission Record]

🚒 A forest product company caught fire in Aldergrove early Wednesday morning [Aldergrove Star]

👉️ Toxic drug deaths continue to rise in Abbotsford and Chilliwack [Abbotsford News]

🛣️ Highway 1 reopened to traffic early Wednesday after a rockslide north of Hope [Hope Standard]

💸 Abbotsford council raised expenditure limits for its members, adding almost $30,000 to the city’s budget [Abbotsford News]

👮‍♂️ A 46-year-old woman was found in Abbotsford’s Nadeau Park with what police believe were stab wounds [Abbotsford Police Department]

🏎️ A car show in Langley raised several thousand dollars to fight childhood cancer [Langley Advance Times]

🥘 Langley’s annual Fork and Finger restaurant tasting event drew big crowds last weekend [Langley Advance Times]

📷 CURRENT CAM: Congrats to Bruce Schmor, who was the first to identify the Mission’s Bellevue Hotel, which housed The Stage, as the location of yesterday’s Current Cam photo.

The Agenda

Disparagement now punishable on Abbotsford council

Abbotsford councillors will now be officially prohibited from disparaging their colleagues.

Council approved a new code of conduct bylaw Monday. The bylaw replaces an existing policy and adds and clarifies various details. Much of it concerns what happens after a council member becomes a subject of an investigation or complaint about their conduct. The new bylaw also allows staff to submit code of conduct complaints.

The new bylaw forbids engaging with colleagues—whether council members, residents or staff—”in a manner that is abusive, bullying, intimidating or derogatory,” though it doesn’t define those terms. It also prohibits member from making “any disparaging comments” about fellow council members, though again it doesn’t specifically define the term. Most definitions define “disparaging” as comments seeking to belittle the value of someone or something.

The punishment for offences under the code of conduct are to be decided upon by council.

District of Kent activates Emergency Operations Centre

The District of Kent has activated its Emergency Operations Centre after a wildfire was discovered on Bear Mountain Tuesday morning.

The fire does not currently pose a risk to life or property but an information notice was delivered to the properties along Kamp Road, the district said in a statement.

The Agassiz Fire Department was notified of the fire Tuesday morning, and the BC Wildfire Service was dispatched to the area with a crew and one helicopter. The fire is currently burning in “steep, inaccessible terrain” on the east side of the mountain and is estimated to be 1.5 hectares in size. BCWS suspects the fire was caused by lightning. It is currently categorized as out-of-control.

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Throwback Thursday

Three different buildings have been named the East Langley School since the early 1800s. The third and final version of the school, photographed here in 1958, was built in 1924. By the time the school closed for good in 1969, it was Langley’s last one room school house. The building’s foundation can still be spotted on google maps along 84th Avenue.

🗓 Things to do

Ongoing, August 31 to Sept. 6

🤠 Stampede: The Valley West Stampede in Langley will run from Saturday, Sept. 2 until Monday, Sept. 4. The stampede will feature several classic events and a kid’s mutton busting competition. More info and tickets online.

🧑‍🎨 Art gallery: The Chilliwack Cultural Centre is hosting the Chilliwack Visual Artists Association’s gallery until September 23. The theme of the show is “transformation.” More info online.

🏇 Equestrian competition: The 2023 BC Equestrian Championships will be held at Island 22 Horse Park in Chilliwack from Friday, Sept. 1 until Sunday, Sept. 3. Find more details online.

🌻 Sunflowers: The Harrison Sunflower Festival continues this month until Sept. 17. Find tickets online.

🎸 Live music: Bands on the Beach on the shore of Harrison Lake will run Saturday, Sept. 2 and Sunday, Sept. 3 and feature local musicians on the shore of Harrison Lake. More info online.

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