Zombie Fires - Time to Plan

The year was 1995 and it was mid-February somewhere up in the steep mountains alongside Bute Inlet. A couple handsome young lads in corked boots - cheerfully packing ball-slapper, axe and chain - made their way up through the ancient trees in their never ending quest for perfect deflection. It was a good day to be in the bush - for the last two months they were off for winter shut-down and they were overdue for a solid pay cheque. There were still mounds of snow here and there with a general dusting in the clearings. All was going as planned, but then something seemed off.

Through the scent of cedar and damp earth, we could pick up a slight hint of smoke. As we advanced on the trail we could see the spot where, just before Christmas, we used to sit for lunch when the weather was bad... and we always had a fire. Although it was a couple months prior, it seemed that our last lunch fire never completely went out. There were no flames, but a big patch of ground was warm to touch and a slight smell of smoke hung in the air. While it was a cold and wet winter, our lunch spot was conveniently located under a big fallen cedar propped up against a rock-bluff which apparently provided enough shelter to keep things smoldering.

Now we were not negligent guys and prided ourselves on keeping the fires modest (and always within the 30 minutes allotted per collective agreement), always took them apart until they were safe and usually finished it all off with a sprinkling of holy water. But what happens in forests is that the 'soil' is often just layer, upon layer, upon layer, of fallen branches, twigs and organic materials. When a hot ember gets into it, in just the right conditions, it can start the ground smoldering - and so it seemed to be the case. Luckily it was a pretty small area so we immediately dug it out until it was dead - really dead.

What we experienced was a very very small version of a bigger phenomena that's been making global headlines lately - 'zombie fires'. These are fires that get into the soil and overwinter - despite the snow and cold, they're deep enough and in just the right conditions that they make it through the winter and often come back to life in the spring. As you'd gather from the headlines, the mild winter as a result of climate change is making 'zombie fires' a legitimate concern and many see it as a harbinger of increasingly intense fire seasons.

The reason I tell the story is just because I like it - I obviously loved my time working in the bush and of all the strange things I saw out there, that was pretty unexpected. I am not an expert on fires, but there are also legitimate business concerns to consider. If you are an operator you have the direct costs to deploy people and equipment, and you also have the indirect costs associated with the work stoppages.

All things are pointing to a bad fire season in BC, so operators should start their contingency planning now. If you haven't done so already, consider looking closely at the actual costs you incurred last year and relating that over to the activities and issues you ran into. Once you have that baseline, you'll be in a better position for this year. With plans in hand, then you need to practice them - check on your capabilities and make sure you can respond when you need to. I'm not a wildfire expert, but its just common sense that if you anticipate an issue (like a bad fire season), you should get ahead of it now with some planning.