Letter from Slocan- wildfires
Meanwhile in the Slocan Valley in BC Canada.
Re: The Wild Fires.
Hi everyone… this is Clayton. I felt like I needed an avenue to use my voice because what I am seeing in Slocan is totally outrageous in my view…. I have been watching for over 6 days now and I am going to do my best to convey what I have seen using as little of my judgements or emotions as I can…. this will be difficult for me as I have A LOT of judgements and emotions about what I am seeing.
As you may know, the Slocan Valley is quite a moist and mountainous, rocky terrain, there are many locals who know the terrain and the local climate well… they know where the access roads/tracks are, they know where the water sources are, where the cliffs are etc…. BC WILDFIRE SERVICES flew in multiple people from Australia to manage our fire. They refused almost any help or knowledge from the locals and they made their own plan on how to handle our valley. I am not aiming this at the boots on the ground by the way, I think that there are many well intentioned, good people here doing their best to make positive impact on the situation. However well intentioned people can be misled. So… first off, the initial response took many days, even we have multiple local fire brigades… they have wildfire training but they are not allowed to engage with wildfires.
Photo: Shuswap fire 2023
Then BC WILDFIRE SERVICES arrived… I thought “great, they can stamp these fires out” however they did not stamp these fires out….they mandated that everyone leave town under the evacuation order… I remained. Anyone who remains is not allowed to leave their property, it seems (judgement) that BC WILDFIRE SERVICES wants to do their utmost to make sure nobody fights fires.
So then we had rain on 2/3 days, the Ponderosa fires in particular were almost non existent from my view… no water applied. No boots on the ground putting the tiny fires out, they let them grow. They did however cut a 50foot swath thru the bush almost 1 km from the fire… on the bottom of the mountain…. they loaded up 21 logging trucks worth of logs from this. Keep in mind that these fires were barely moving at all, they were 1km from the swath and after a few days of hotter weather they are moving maybe 100-150meters per day… spotty and sideways… not a wall of fire….
There were lots of places they could have cut this swath closer to the fires.. if they had spoken to the locals who know the terrain… also maybe someone could have told them that the Slocan Valley doesn’t burn like Australia. They put in water reservoirs and sprinkler systems to protect property and people…. Ok.. back to the other side of the valley now, the Mulvey fire was chugging along the backside of the mountain, they cut a firebreak, they installed sprinklers, pumps, ponds, hoses… all that stuff… great…. now the properties in Slocan are protected. I felt really good at this point, all the protection was in place the lockdown can be lifted and Slocan can come back to life…. then they lit 2 massive backburns on the bottom of the mountain (I think they thought it was Australia again) they were deemed “successful” but in reality they just lit up half the mountain and created a pile of smoke…. and the north backburn is now the only fire that is any danger to persons or property.
Photo: Backburn fire Shuswap 2023
It is currently firing up and moving into the provincial park. The one they lit…. miles away from the mulvey fire… has now put our valley in danger… and why did they light it if the properties were already protected? Especially so far away from the active fire… right on the edge of town. So now they want to do the same thing on the Ponderosa side.. where the fires are very small and moving very slow… they are not applying any water to them… but they want to light the whole mountain on fire… so just to break it down… they want to fight a couple tiny fires at the top of Ponderosa by lighting one REALLY BIG fire at the bottom… which will put MORE people and properties at risk… create a ton of smoke, destroy wildlife habitat, destroy timber…. basically destruction is what will happen.
Again… almost no water has been put on these fires… and when water is applied and the fires become small then they let them burn unattended for days. This makes no sense. I question the competence of BC WILDFIRE SERVICES, I question the competence of the people who put them in charge. My judgements (sorry…gotta do it) are that they have no humanity, or they have no good plan, it seems that they want to create as much destruction as possible, spend as much money as possible and they do not care about the effects on the local economy or environment. To put it short, I am pissed. The firebreaks and water suppression is in place to protect Slocan… go and fight the fire BC WILDFIRE SERVICES. Or leave and we will fight it. I feel very sure that a local grassroots movement could stamp out the ponderosa fires in days…. what BC WILDFIRE SERVICES intends to do is create more fire…. they are NOT fighting fires… they are ADDING fires…. they have already added 2… 1 of which is spreading into the park….They could leave a skeleton crew behind to man the fire breaks, and monitor conditions… enlist locals who can man a hose …. and if the fires get close we protect as needed. Lighting 1 kilometer of bushland on fire to stop some small spot fires is not a good decision… mark my words here folks.
Thanks for reading.
Clayton Wood.
Libby
August 18, 2024 @ 8:24 pm
Clayton Wood, thankyou for sharing your experience. It is all too familiar and indeed a pattern is emerging. Here in the North Shuswap we experienced the same infuriating incompetence/malfesence, bullying and lies. We will watch for any ‘after fire bullshit meetings’, to cover their asses and gather info to better take the boots to us next time, as I and others will wish to come to the Slocan to attend and support. They can’t continue destroying our province, our towns and our homes. They are no heroes. These people are evil. How many towns?
Ellen Chambers
September 6, 2024 @ 1:18 pm
Hi, Libby
We are planning resident organized Town Halls to discuss and recover from the aftermath of the Slocan wildfires on October 5 in Slocan and October 6 in Silverton. We especially want to invite people from the Shuswap to attend. It was your region devastated last summer and our valley devastated this summer. The only change made from 2023 to 2024 was… the BCWS got better at gaslighting and PR. Please contact me
Ellen Chambers at 250-355-0006. I am also attempting to get in contact with Jim Cooperman and Karl Bishoff.