Thursday - Dec. 5, 2024 - Aggressive dogs cost Hope extra

🌥 High 9C

Good morning!

Back in the days of ubiquitous cable, the Fire Log Channel was a place of bonding and boredom. Those without a real fireplace could turn on their television to a crackling vision of festive logs, and we would all wait patiently for The Hand to appear and poke at the fire. How many hours did we spend watching the flames flicker on television, and how much time debating whether The Hand belonged to a man or woman?

There are now many versions of the yule log (including a Frozen option on Disney+, and one from NASA featuring rockets). But my favourite will always be the original, with the plaid-clad Hand of indeterminate gender.

– Grace

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Traffic & Weather

🌤 Local forecast: Langley | Chilliwack | Abbotsford | Hope (We have had to temporarily change our forecast links to the Weather Network due to a technical error.)

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

🛣 Click here for links to road cameras across the Fraser Valley, including those for the Coquihalla, Highway 7, Hope-Princeton, Fraser Canyon, and Highway 1 in Langley and Abbotsford.

NEWS

Extreme weather is challenging the concept that some fires shouldn’t be put out. What can BC do?

On warm summer afternoons in southern British Columbia, thunderclouds bloom like flowers over high plateaus and towering mountain peaks. A flash of light. A sharp crack. And a blast of electricity has been delivered to another remote hillside.

A new wildfire has started. It won’t be detected for hours or days. But when it is finally discovered, a pivotal decision will have to be made. Should the fire be immediately put out? Or can it be allowed to clear away brush on the forest floor, potentially reducing the intensity of a future blaze while making room for wildlife?

The question, which lies at the heart of BC’s wildfire crisis, isn’t new. But the answer has never been muddier.

Fire officials know fires help foster healthier forest ecosystems and reduce the long-term risk of cataclysmic blazes. And although deliberately set “prescribed fires” can help protect communities, across most of BC’s forests, uncontrolled fires have always consumed far more ground-level fuel.

A century ago, British Columbia tried to put out every fire. Now, that approach is widely seen as a catalyst for today’s supersized fires. But reversing course is harder than it seems, thanks, in large part, to our rapidly changing climate.

Hotter, drier, and longer summers are making it increasingly perilous to allow fires to burn. And that has left fire officials—and BC’s southern Interior as a whole—in a modern Catch 22, wherein BC and its residents are potentially damned if crews try to put out every fire, and damned if they don’t.

• Today, after months of research, Tyler tries to answer the question: Is it too late to fix what has been broken?

Related

Need to Know

📭 An Aldergrove Canada Post employee has been through four work stoppages at the Crown corporation, but says this is the first time the corporation has cut off benefits for striking staff [Langley Advance Times]

🚓 Abbotsford police stopped a drunk driver who was on his way to his truck-driving job [Abbotsford News]

📈 Chilliwack councillor Chris Kloot is blaming the provincial and federal governments for much of the city’s upcoming property tax increase [Fraser Valley Today]

🚔 A 78-year-old Mission woman died in a head-on collision after she crossed over the centre line on Tuesday night [Mission Record]

❤ A Chilliwack teen who had a liver transplant when he was a baby came back to thank hospital staff more than a decade later [Chilliwack Progress]

🏠 Langley residents who moved into temporary homes because they needed lower rents will now need to find somewhere else to live [Langley Advance Times]

✅ A new 30-bed emergency shelter has been temporarily approved for downtown Abbotsford, despite concerns from the business association [Abbotsford News]

📎 The Township of Langley will not have to fulfill a Freedom of Information request spanning roughly 200,000 documents, an adjudicator has ruled [Langley Advance Times]

🥫 Roughly 10% of people in Merritt are using the area’s food bank, and donations aren’t able to keep up with demand [CBC]

📸 CURRENT CAM: Congratulations to Ron and Dianne, who were the first to identify yesterday’s Current Cam as the Mainland Sand & Gravel Ltd. Cox Quarry on the north side of Sumas Mountain.

📖 Begin your next chapter. Discover 140+ flexible, hands-on programs at KPU in Surrey, Langley, and Richmond. Find the learning path that works for you!*

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The Agenda

Rise in impounded dogs costs Hope $26K: budget

Aggressive dogs have raised animal control costs in Hope by more than $26,000, according to the district’s latest annual budget review.

Hope spent $47,220 on animal control in 2024, roughly $15,000 more than it budgeted ($31,800).

The increase is largely due to the high number of dogs that have been impounded and detained by the district. The figures surpassed its current contract with the pound, which also went up 3% this year.

“It’s been quite significant; it’s been quite an intense year for us,” said Donna Bellingham, Hope’s director of corporate services, at the Nov. 13 committee of the whole meeting.

The district has put down four dogs so far in 2024.

Bellingham added the rise in unruly dogs could be attributed to the increasing cost of living and population growth.

“It’s not all stemmed to the advent of population but some of it is,” Bellingham said. “We’ve been able to seize some dogs from homes and encouraged [residents] to surrender them to us and do the right thing.”

None of the detained dogs were repeat offenders.

The district has budgeted $53,800 for animal control next year.

— Josh Kozelj, Local Journalism Initiative

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🗓 Things to do this week/end

🎨 Art workshop: The Reach Gallery Museum hosts two family art-making workshops on Saturday, one from 12:30pm to 2pm, the other from 2:20pm to 4pm. Families of all kinds are welcome, although pre-registration is required. Details online.

🕯 Candlelight parade: Mission's Candlelight Parade returns on Saturday at 6pm. Judges will choose the parade's best floats for holiday spirit, lighting, originality, and charity. Details online.

🏒 Hockey night: The Langley Rivermen take on the Chilliwack Chiefs at the Chilliwack Coliseum on Friday at 7pm. Details and tickets online.

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Catch up

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