This year鈥檚 wildfire season in the 亚洲天堂 Lake area was a 鈥渨ake-up call,鈥� according to Bill Miller, Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako (RDBN) chair and director of Electoral Area B (亚洲天堂 Lake rural).

Miller played a crucial role in this year鈥檚 wildfire response. In addition to his many duties 鈥� which included ensuring the RDBN effectively implemented a series of evacuation orders and alerts 鈥� he also worked as a liaison between the BC Wildfire Service and local industry, which he says contributed significantly to firefighting efforts.

鈥淚 spent quite a bit of time around both organizations [RDBN and BC Wildfire Service] and was able to get a bird鈥檚-eye view of what was going on,鈥� he told Lakes District 亚洲天堂. 鈥淚 certainly have some really strong opinions about how this thing has to change and where it has to go.鈥�

Miller said his biggest takeaway from the 2018 wildfire season is that Northern B.C. needs to increase its ability to respond faster when disaster strikes.

鈥淭he whole thing boils down to we need to hit that stuff quick,鈥� he said. 鈥淚ndustry has to be able to put their capacity out there; they need to be pre-organized and pre-trained.鈥�

鈥淚f industry were pre-organized and had unit crews and stuff ready to go for when a fire started, the BC Wildfire Service could just send them out; they wouldn鈥檛 have to worry about finding crews or anything else.鈥�

Miller says local First Nations, who also played a crucial role this fire season providing food and accommodation to evacuees. should, need to be trained as contract firefighers (type two crews).

鈥淔irst Nations are there all the time and they know the land base, they have intimate knowledge of the ground; so we need to train those people,鈥� he said.

鈥淲e need to be pre-organized and the system needs to be much quicker to respond to those kinds of situations,鈥� he added.

Lack of resources

Miller says the provincial government needs to have more resources in place to combat wildfires, especially air support.

鈥淭hat [air support] was one of the things we fell short,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he province has got to have that infrastructure in place.鈥�

鈥淎t a certain point, when all the fires hit the landscape, there wasn鈥檛 enough resources if we [RDBN] had all the resources in the province,鈥� he continued. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 how short we were.鈥�

鈥淎t the end of the day, the capacity for local government or province to deal with events of this kind of scope is just not there. We鈥檙e not even close.鈥�

According to the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development, the province had 270 aircraft supporting their efforts during the 2018 season.

鈥淲e鈥檙e aware of the complaints about not enough resources in the early stages of the wildfires,鈥� said the ministry in a statement. 鈥淭he BC Wildfire Service prioritizes resources where needs are greatest with human life and safety being the number one priority in extinguishing new fire starts.鈥�

鈥淎fter each significant wildfire season, the BC Wildfire Service reviews actions to learn what worked well and what needs improvement,鈥� the ministry added. 鈥淭hat will occur again this year.鈥�

Residents who ignored evacuation orders

When asked about the residents south of 亚洲天堂 Lake who chose not to abide by evacuation orders, Miller said he understands their point of view.

READ MORE: Some residents south of 亚洲天堂 Lake refuse to evacuate

鈥淚 don鈥檛 blame the people who stayed behind,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 like our system right now; it鈥檚 archaic and it doesn鈥檛 work.鈥�

鈥淭here鈥檚 definitely people that helped the process, and they were eventually even a part of the overall firefighting process,鈥� he continued. 鈥淏ut if you haven鈥檛 fire smarted your place, if you aren鈥檛 defendable, or if you鈥檙e older or not physically capable of putting the fires out, you shouldn鈥檛 be there [in evacuated areas].鈥�

Unprecedented year

Miller said the 2018 wildfire season was unprecedented.

READ MORE: 2018 now B.C.鈥檚 worst wildfire season on record

鈥淚t was much more complex than last year in terms of geography,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t was much more complex because there were so many fires.鈥�

鈥淭hey were spread all over our region,鈥� he continued. 鈥淔orty per cent of our land base was either under alert or order at one point in time.鈥�

鈥淲e鈥檝e never had a year where there were that many fires at once.鈥�

Community support

Apart from all the challenges encountered during this wildfire season, Miller said what stands out the most to him is how community members stepped up to the plate.

鈥淭here鈥檚 always negative stuff out there, but the biggest part for me, what I saw in our community, was that there was an incredible amount of people helping people, people out there on the fireline for days, people just going above and beyond,鈥� he said.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of stuff we gotta go through and push for, but at the end of the day there was an overwhelming amount of people that really pitched in.鈥�

Local review needs to take place

Apart from the usual wildfire season review, Miller said he hopes local governments, firefighters, industry, First Nations, contractors and community members will gather to discuss what worked and didn鈥檛 work this summer.

鈥淲e really need a review of the operations, but that review has to be done by the people that are on the ground, not by politicians,鈥� he said. 鈥淥ut of that can come a recommendation to the province on what we have got to do.鈥�

鈥淭his land is born of fire鈥�

Miller also stressed the importance of a better landscape management planning, which would take into account fuel removal and fire breaks.

鈥淭his would not necessarily stop the fires, but it could slow them down to a point where we could get them under control,鈥� he said.

鈥淭his land that we live on is born of fire; if we are going to live here, we have to know that we have to remove those fuels or we are going to burn.鈥�

READ MORE: 亚洲天堂 Lake at significant risk of wildfire

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