Editor:
In the ‘50s and ‘60s, when I was working in the logging industry, we still had fire seasons. We still burnt slash, or mitigated as they now call it. We still had forestry lookouts. These were towers in high places were you could view the areas were there could be fires. In these towers were brass compass roses, which had a brass compass needle. When the weather became hot in the summer, these towers were manned day and night. When smoke or fire was spotted, the compass rose gave a reading in which direction from the tower it was. The forestry station then took action.
When I worked at Sproat Lake in the Alberni Valley, there were Mars Water bombers stationed there.
As time wore on, the forest companies and government decided that it was too costly to keep burning slash as there seemed there was not too much of a risk. It was decided if people were told to be careful there was no reason to shut down the forest during hot weather. Then along came the pine beetle, which started to damage a large area of spruce trees. The advice was to burn it out but the forest minister at the time said it was not necessary. Climate change saw the winters getting warmer not getting freezing cold anymore and not killing the pine beetle like it used to.
We now had a problem: thousands of hectors of flammable material. Also, climate change saw more lightning storms, which increased the fire risk. Also the government saw no reason to keep the watch towers, too costly. Then they decided there was no reason to keep the forestry stations in all the places where logging took place, too costly.
Now we see the effect: this has helped create the fire problem we have. I hope this will let people know, we need the forest to be closed during these hot spells. Why take a chance? Mitigate, as they now call it, must keep going on.
Bill Ellis
Sechelt
