Why aren't fire breaks built proactively around wildfire-prone cities in B.C.?

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The City of Whitehorse in the Yukon is in the process of building a massive fuel break around the city, but it's not a strategy being adopted in B.C. for a number of reasons.

With wildfire season looming for the Okanagan, a West Kelowna neighbourhood association is lobbying for more fire prevention and is suggesting ideas for two of the community's largest problems.

The City of Whitehorse in the Yukon is in the process of building a massive fuel break around the city, but it's not a strategy being adopted in B.C. for a number of reasons. “Depending upon the terrain, erosion can become a problem if there is no vegetation in place to stabilize the soil. This can result in destabilization of slopes and debris flows after heavy rain.”

“If you still have a dense forest full of fuels on both sides of the line you've cut, you still have a lot of fuel ready to burn if a fire burns through the area. Wildfires often generate embers that travel over two kilometres, so a small firebreak won't achieve much in the way of reducing wildfire risk.”

Traditional wildfire mitigation sees fuels removed from the forest floor along with standing dead timber. Branches lower to the ground are removed to prevent the fire from spreading into the canopy, which can also be thinned out through selective tree removal.

 

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