Forest conditions are changing, in part due to climate change, but also as a result of (firefighting) practices, probably the largest of which has been interrupting the natural cycle of fires. — Peter Fuglem
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The government is making some progress in dealing with fuel for fires. Part of the problem here springs from our success in quickly putting out most wildfires. The lack of fire has prevented the boreal forest from regenerating. In the 1970s Alberta forests had mostly young and immature trees. Now they have mostly mature or over-mature trees with more deadfall, leading to a greater risk for the most intense and catastrophic of fires.
“Forest conditions are changing, in part due to climate change, but also as a result of (firefighting) practices, probably the largest of which has been interrupting the natural cycle of fires,” says Peter Fuglem, a B.C. fire expert who helped write Canada’s national wildfire plan and the 2012 review after the Slave Lake fire.
“Wildfires used to remove fuel and also break up the landscape level forest into various ages and types, therefore reducing the likelihood of wildfire expansion.”
There’s been a move in recent decades to allow for “appropriate response” to wildfires, Flannigan says, which essentially means putting out fires quickly around human settlements, but monitoring them and letting them burn in more remote areas.
