Battling B.C.'s largest ever wildfire means letting some of it burn: province
Battling B.C.'s largest ever wildfire means letting some of it burn: province
Mark Healey, an incident commander with the BC Wildfire Service, says he took a 2 1/2 hour flight over the southern flank of the enormous Donnie Creek fire in northeastern British Columbia.
BC Wildlife Service predicts the Donnie Creek blaze could continue through the fall and be extinguished in the winter -- or even remain smouldering and reemerge again next spring
I'm originally from the NWT and a lot of wildfires up there got the same treatment. The physical ability to get to them was challenging enough, and the risk to humans sparse or plain non-existent, that they were left to burn. I remember as a child camping along the east arm of the Great Slave Lake wandering through a burnt out forest. We only stayed briefly but if one were so inclined one could spend months exploring all the territory covered by that fire.
The interesting part is checking those areas a few years later and seeing what if anything is growing. Some species of trees specifically spread their seeds during fires. The fires are clear out all the tall grass and dead fall sometimes improving the health of larger trees that sometimes survive only their outer layers being burnt off.