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Catch fires when they're small, don't let them grow - former firefighter critical of BC wildfire response

Critical of fire management

George Benwell says things need to change at the highest levels when it comes to fighting wildfires in B.C.

Benwell lives near the Three Valley Lake fire and says if management had put crews on the blaze when it was small, the situation would not be what it is today.

As of Friday, the fire burning above Three Valley Gap had been mapped at 309 hectares.

An evacuation order was issued by the Columbia Shuswap Regional District for the north side of the Trans-Canada Highway at the Three Valley Gap Chateau, along with an alert for two other properties.

Benwell, who was a contract firefighter and dangerous tree faller in the 1980s and '90s, tells Castanet he has concerns about how upper levels of management have been dealing with wildfires in the province.

He said he is in no way critical of front-line fire crews, who he says are doing a good job given the task before them.

He said the Three Valley fire is a good example of how not handle a wildfire.

“It was a small lightning strike for a few days. There were no resources put on it, now it has blown up into a problem,” he said.

His own wood lot is being burned by the fire.

“There are a lot of problems going on with BC Wildfire and the government's response ... it's about the management,” he said.

He says he's been critical of how management have handled wildfires for the past 20 years.

“The main critique is they are remote, bureaucratic and exclusive. They don't really interface well with the industrial community, forestry, or the locals.”

Benwell said more initial attack crews are needed to hit fires while they are still small.

“It's the bureaucracy, it isn't the crews. It's in the upper management,” said Benwell, who authored a paper in 2017 on what he believes needs to be done to better manage wildfires.

Benwell says he understands that fires near major centres get the most attention, but if crews can knock down fires when they are still small – like at Three Valley – they won't have to throw more resources at them when they inevitably grow larger, and crews could concentrate on the fires near larger centres.

“If catch it when it is small, you can deal with it quickly,” he said.



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