Why Hope's surrounding forests pose only a ’moderate’ risk

Large, dense forests full of highly flammable wildfire fuel surround Hope. But the town itself isn’t as doomed to fiery destruction as one might initially fear.

While there is plenty of potential for wildfires in the area, a new report presented to Hope council says Hope itself benefits from several geographic features that keep the risk to homes and businesses to moderate levels.

The ‘moderate’ risk

The wildfire risks facing Hope have been comprehensively catalogued in the community’s first wildfire resilience plan, a draft of which was presented to council earlier this month.

The report warns that a severe wildfire could burn wide swaths of the forests surrounding the town. The forests are dense and full of coniferous trees that bake in hot, dry summer weather. In Hope, the highest risk areas are those that buttress the nearby woods.

You can view the plan for yourself here.

But how close a fire could get to a community is not the only factor in determining if a town is at serious risk of going up in flames.

The area’s geography—including the steep hills and swift rivers that can and do wreak their own varieties of havoc on the area—create important, fire-calming effects. And the type of foliage impacts just how fast a fire might move and whether it could defy suppression efforts.

Hope’s position at the base of a valley is a major benefit: forest fires tend to burn up hills and—absent strong winds—flames would spread most quickly uphill and away from structures in the community. Although fires can move downhill or into the wind, they tend to do so at a slower pace, and natural and man-made firebreaks, like the Fraser and Coquihalla rivers and right-of-ways cleared for rail lines, highways, and a pipeline (not to mention already-burned portions of forest west of Hope) provide fire breaks.

Still, Hope is in the middle of a forest, and not immune to a wildfire—especially in interface areas next to stands of trees.

One of the major concerns is that burning embers from a fire could start new fires on a nearby mountain or hill and land in the town. The wildfire resilience plan notes that Firesmart principles can be effective at preventing such fires and suggests the district implement the principles (which include vegetation management and emergency planning, among other things). Flying embers—and where they might land—are a big part of the way the BC Wildfire service calculates wildfire risks.

The plan also revealed that the town’s ability to suppress a fire could also be better. While most of the area has fire hydrants hooked up to the town’s water system, the water pressure and supply in that system is “expected to be low and limited” in the event of a wildfire.

Hope’s new Wildfire Resilience Plan recommends that Hope—which already has a Firesmart Coordinator—starts a Community Firesmart and Resiliency Committee and get other communities nearby involved in helping each other build resilience to wildfires. Having such a committee also allows access to different funding sources for wildfire mitigation projects that could address some concerns brought up in the plan.

The plan also suggests other practical ways the community can reduce wildfire risk, including analysing the water delivery system’s efficiency, installing wildfire hazard signs, and introducing programs that will help residents reduce vegetation that could fuel a fire.

Some parts of the area are more at-risk than others, the plan shows. Neighbourhoods closer to dense forests with single access routes, like East Kawkawa lake and the Silver Skagit Road, are at higher risk both because fires can more easily threaten homes, and because those homes would be harder to evacuate.

For decades, the rivers, highways and farms surrounding Hope have provided useful, if unintentional, defences against forest fires. Now, the community is hoping to actively shore up those protections with plans and projects of its own.