Len MacCharles wants you to develop a family evacuation plan and put together a . He wants you to do it now.

B次元官网网址淎 wildfire impacting Nelson: it is not if, itB次元官网网址檚 when,B次元官网网址� NelsonB次元官网网址檚 fire chief told last weekB次元官网网址檚 Wildfire and Climate Change Conference. B次元官网网址淚t is highly likely. The impacts to health, property, the environment, people, is going to be pretty serious.B次元官网网址�

ItB次元官网网址檚 hard to predict what that fire will look like, he said.

B次元官网网址淚t would depend on the fire, the conditions, the circumstances, the wind. Was it a fire that started five kilometres from the city and making its way here? Or it is a lightning strike that struck very close?B次元官网网址�

MacCharles was hired by city council several years ago partly because of his experience as head of emergency management in Calgary and as the incident commander at the wildfire that destroyed much of Slave Lake, Alberta, in 2013.

MacCharles said a reporter asked him at the time what it would take to put the Slave Lake fire out.

B次元官网网址淢y answer was, when this fire rolled into Slave Lake, if I had all the resources that I had in Calgary, which was 90 pieces of heavy apparatus and 1,400 fire fighters, if I had had all that in Slave Lake, a fire that was described as like a blow torch, I could not have stopped that fire.

B次元官网网址淚f a fire wants to come in to your community bad enough, itB次元官网网址檚 coming.B次元官网网址�

The Fort MacMurray fire was not predictable, MacCharles said, because the fire danger rating was not very high at the time. But it was the perfect storm.

B次元官网网址淚t was the dryness, the wind, all those other circumstances. And the perfect storm is coming more and more often,B次元官网网址� he said, referring to that had climate change is gradually increasing temperatures and reducing summer precipitation across the Kootenays.

Several years ago, forest fire expert Bruce Blackwell that Nelson was on his B次元官网网址渢op ten list of communities in B.C. for the next big fire.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淭hat was not just an off-the-cuff remark,B次元官网网址� MacCharles said. B次元官网网址淗e (Blackwell) has actually backed that up with studies and information. It is not just fearmongering.B次元官网网址�

How has Nelson responded?

MacCharles said Nelson is developing a wildfire management plan, two main components of which are fuel treatment and the Fire Smart program.

Fuel treatment typically means working by hand, modifying forest vegetation by retaining large dominant trees, thinning and removing small trees, removing deadfall, pruning the lower parts of the retained trees, and burning everything removed.

MacCharles explained that the city and the Regional District of Central Kootenay have been doing in the city and on crown land outside it, but it is expensive and time consuming and has received B次元官网网址渕ixed to poorB次元官网网址� response and engagement from residents.

He said the , which provides a free professional assessment for property owners in what they could do to reduce fire danger, has had moderate uptake in Nelson and surrounding area but is improving. near the city are not compelled to do anything to reduce dangerous fuels, and MacCharles said he is hoping for more provincial government incentives for them.

He said residents become more motivated B次元官网网址渨hen there is smoke on the horizonB次元官网网址� but interest tends to drop off otherwise.

MacCharles gave conference participants a thorough list of firefighting challenges in Nelson including a list of critical infrastructure that will need protection, including water supply, hydro, wastewater treatment, communications, hospital, schools and airport. He also talked about evacuation.

B次元官网网址淚f you say B次元官网网址榚vacuationB次元官网网址� quickly, you can move on and say itB次元官网网址檚 OK, we got it, itB次元官网网址檚 all good. But it is a huge nightmare and even with planning and trained people, it is going to be chaotic. Nelson can have up to 20,000 people, (including visitors and rural people working in town) at any given time.

B次元官网网址淚t is not inconceivable to imagine a wildfire would affect at least one of the three transportation routes out of Nelson. So now you have 20,000 people in an evacuation, trying to get out of town, all on the same road.B次元官网网址�

MacCharles also touched on recovery.

B次元官网网址淭he economics of a wildfire going into a place like Nelson is just off the charts. We are a community of small shops. Most small businesses can go 30 to 60 days without money coming in and going out before they go out of business. You start losing too many businesses, your employment hub drops off, there is a cascading effect. Tourism takes a long time to recover, and the social and mental health impact is huge and it takes years to recover.B次元官网网址�

The contents of a 72-hour emergency B次元官网网址楪rab B次元官网网址榥B次元官网网址� Go KitB次元官网网址� can be found on the .

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bill.metcalfe@nelsonstar.com
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