Opinion: B.C. needs to put into practice all we know about wildfire before the next community has to evacuate

Advertisement 1 This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Breadcrumb Trail Links HomeOpinionOp-Ed Opinion: B.C. needs to put into practice all we know about wildfire before the next community has to evacuate Christine Gelowitz: Gap between identifying wildfire risk and reducing it is still too large. We need more people with the knowledge, training, authority, and accountability to plan and deliver the work that reduces wildfire risk Author of the article: By Christine Gelowitz Published Sep 16, 2026 Last updated 33 minutes ago 3 minute read Join the conversation When the Tremont wildfire threatened the town of Logan Lake in 2021, work there prescribed by a team of forest professionals had reduced the forest fuel load in the adjacent community forest, aiding firefighters in responding, and along with a little luck from the wind, was largely credited with saving the community, writes Christine Gelowitz. PHOTO BY GARNET MIERAU /PNG Article content This past summer wildfires again ripped through the B.C. Interior, resulting in lost homes and uprooted communities. As always, we’re left wondering why did this happen? Could it have been prevented? Article content In the case of the Summerland fire, it was reported that fuel management and prescribed burning work had been planned in some of the affected areas but had not been carried out. But the situation is more nuanced. Considerable mitigation work had taken place around the community over the past two decades, including fuel management treatments, ecological burns, and targeted grazing. The effectiveness of those efforts, along with other factors across the landscape and efforts of individual local residents, will no doubt be studied in detail in the months ahead. Article content Article content Article content The impact of this wildfire does not mean mitigation failed. Quite the opposite; it suggests that preventive work matters, that FireSmart initiatives by homeowners are imperative, and that communities are safer because of it. Article content Sunrise Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. Sign Up By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. Article content One need only look to 2021 when the Tremont wildfire threatened the town of Logan Lake to see the benefits of wildfire prevention programs. Work there, prescribed by a team of forest…