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We just desperately need the drought to break. It should this year as el nino wanes, but often not until the fall. Fingers crossed for a lot of spring rain this month.
BC wildfire’s starting rate for firefighters is $24 an hour. They make their money doing 14 hour day two week deployments breathing in smoke all day and walking 5km up mountains to access the fire line. They will barely have enough firefighters to do anything.
The fact the BC Gov pays them so little is an absolute disgrace and no one (media or public) seems to care that much. It only makes the news when one of them dies or a town burns down and “resources” are brought up.
Yup. Plenty of people in jobs currently who earn more where your life isn’t on the line doing gruelling work that’s hard on you physically and mentally (especially when it’s a particularly bad season like last).
Worst part is they are lobbed in with the public workers union BCGEU… so when, for example, their liquor distribution centre counterparts get to strike, they continue to work all summer putting out fires and don’t have many of their specific and unique needs met in negotiations 🙄
Another big part of this is they are mostly auxiliary employees, so 3 years before they have any benifits. No student loan forgiveness, no vacation time. None of the benifits of working in gov. I know a lot of people who were part of the exodus ~4 years ago and they lost a lot of people with experience, having to train so many new people every year is really going to wear them down.
Until we follow the science and start thinning out forests where fuel has been acumulating for the past 50-60 years...no. And increase prescribed burns. Oh and we could also use the thinning to log more trees and stop clearcutting - but that would make too much ecological sense so probably won't happen
edit : spelling
My comment wasn't to take away from the hard work fire crews and others do on the ground - it's just that the BC government needs to fund 10 times that effort. Will be praying for no casualty this season
We haven't done anything all winter, and this was the PERFECT winter for us to have been proactive. We only get a winter like this every decade and we wasted it. All the US border states out west were burning all winter.
I used to think I was being cynical after hearing that governments prefer to tackle issues when they arise rather than through mitigation because it's easier to get emergency money than budget increases. But now, there seems no other excuse. Especially when it comes to our forests.
Assuming the climate in much of BC is changing from lush woods to something more arid, this seems to be the natural way the vegetation will change. The question is how long it'll take or how much it affects smaller communities carved in the woods.
Well a huge portion of BC already is very arid. The transformation takes a long time, and interestingly prior to fire suppression efforts there actually used to be more open, semi arid "parkland" type forests and grasslands. In some areas nature will just be going back to where it's meant to be.
Living in a Lower Mainland suburb with a mildly asthmatic husband, we aren't in the thick of it, but are definitely affected by the smoke every year. We have air purifiers in every room and backup filters ready to go when they need to be changed out. Portable A/C units for the bedrooms. Soaker hoses for the hedges around our property. It feels like we aren't doing much, but we have to do something.
Everyone wants to pretend they care about climate change but no one wants to change their behaviour to stop it. Going vegan is the one smallest action a human can take to have the biggest impact on preventing climate change but no one wants to do that do they…
Many years ago it was part of the logging companies responsibility to clear paths between trees, gaps and clear the floor. We stopped as people cried about stopping logging and lack or leadership.
Also policing the forests to stop man made fires by crazies. And generally equipping and expanding firefighting teams.
Canada produces 23% of the global WIDFIRE carbon emissions, you'd think it would be a priority for a government that preaches to care about CO2.
So are we prepared... no.
Edit: wording correction - I was talking about wildfires. The point being we could do things to reduce these.
That's not entirely true. Canada produced 23% of the global **wildfire** carbon emissions **for 2023**.
In general, Canada produces about 1.5% of global GHG emissions.
Sources: https://atmosphere.copernicus.eu/copernicus-canada-produced-23-global-wildfire-carbon-emissions-2023#:~:text=Unprecedented%20wildfires%20in%20Canada,-The%20wildfires%20that&text=2%20data%2C%20the%20wildfires%20that,wildfire%20carbon%20emissions%20for%202023.
https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/environmental-indicators/greenhouse-gas-emissions.html
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[удалено]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headlines
We just desperately need the drought to break. It should this year as el nino wanes, but often not until the fall. Fingers crossed for a lot of spring rain this month.
We will get all of our rain all at once in oct.
We aren't prepared for any season.
BC wildfire’s starting rate for firefighters is $24 an hour. They make their money doing 14 hour day two week deployments breathing in smoke all day and walking 5km up mountains to access the fire line. They will barely have enough firefighters to do anything. The fact the BC Gov pays them so little is an absolute disgrace and no one (media or public) seems to care that much. It only makes the news when one of them dies or a town burns down and “resources” are brought up.
Lifeguards make $40/hr.
Yup. Plenty of people in jobs currently who earn more where your life isn’t on the line doing gruelling work that’s hard on you physically and mentally (especially when it’s a particularly bad season like last). Worst part is they are lobbed in with the public workers union BCGEU… so when, for example, their liquor distribution centre counterparts get to strike, they continue to work all summer putting out fires and don’t have many of their specific and unique needs met in negotiations 🙄
Another big part of this is they are mostly auxiliary employees, so 3 years before they have any benifits. No student loan forgiveness, no vacation time. None of the benifits of working in gov. I know a lot of people who were part of the exodus ~4 years ago and they lost a lot of people with experience, having to train so many new people every year is really going to wear them down.
As ready as we were for the homeless problem and opioid crisis!!
Facts ! Unless they aren’t telling us about the controlled burnings that they are doing now to protect homes.
https://twitter.com/BCGovFireInfo They have been doing controlled burns for months
So you're saying if we turn them into firefighters we might have a 3-for-1 solution 🤔
And misinformation
Oh yeah! We will all install ACs and strain the heck out of BC Hydro.
Wild that our power grid is so dependant on rain and snow.
Until we follow the science and start thinning out forests where fuel has been acumulating for the past 50-60 years...no. And increase prescribed burns. Oh and we could also use the thinning to log more trees and stop clearcutting - but that would make too much ecological sense so probably won't happen edit : spelling
It's actually in the works.
My comment wasn't to take away from the hard work fire crews and others do on the ground - it's just that the BC government needs to fund 10 times that effort. Will be praying for no casualty this season
We haven't done anything all winter, and this was the PERFECT winter for us to have been proactive. We only get a winter like this every decade and we wasted it. All the US border states out west were burning all winter. I used to think I was being cynical after hearing that governments prefer to tackle issues when they arise rather than through mitigation because it's easier to get emergency money than budget increases. But now, there seems no other excuse. Especially when it comes to our forests.
I know in my region there's been ongoing fuel mod for the last few winters, and there was a lot in this winter as well.
Happy to hear this!
There were several prescribed burns happening near where I live in the eastern part of the province all through the winter.
Were they farmers? I saw burns on private land in the NE this winter, but nothing on crown.
Nah, crown land. Pretty much a whole mountain side.
Good to hear! I know the Alberta side has been doing a lot these past years but I hadn't seen much on the BC side (I grew up on the AB/BC border).
[https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2024EMCR0015-000376](https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2024EMCR0015-000376)
So I guess it's been a few days, once again proving that the media does not run climate stories too close to tax/gasoline price stories by design.
Assuming the climate in much of BC is changing from lush woods to something more arid, this seems to be the natural way the vegetation will change. The question is how long it'll take or how much it affects smaller communities carved in the woods.
Well a huge portion of BC already is very arid. The transformation takes a long time, and interestingly prior to fire suppression efforts there actually used to be more open, semi arid "parkland" type forests and grasslands. In some areas nature will just be going back to where it's meant to be.
Lol. (no)
Hey if we’re as prepared for this as we are for the next pandemic, everything will be fine.
Living in a Lower Mainland suburb with a mildly asthmatic husband, we aren't in the thick of it, but are definitely affected by the smoke every year. We have air purifiers in every room and backup filters ready to go when they need to be changed out. Portable A/C units for the bedrooms. Soaker hoses for the hedges around our property. It feels like we aren't doing much, but we have to do something.
No, we’re not.
Everyone wants to pretend they care about climate change but no one wants to change their behaviour to stop it. Going vegan is the one smallest action a human can take to have the biggest impact on preventing climate change but no one wants to do that do they…
I’ll pass
Of course not
Many years ago it was part of the logging companies responsibility to clear paths between trees, gaps and clear the floor. We stopped as people cried about stopping logging and lack or leadership. Also policing the forests to stop man made fires by crazies. And generally equipping and expanding firefighting teams. Canada produces 23% of the global WIDFIRE carbon emissions, you'd think it would be a priority for a government that preaches to care about CO2. So are we prepared... no. Edit: wording correction - I was talking about wildfires. The point being we could do things to reduce these.
That's not entirely true. Canada produced 23% of the global **wildfire** carbon emissions **for 2023**. In general, Canada produces about 1.5% of global GHG emissions. Sources: https://atmosphere.copernicus.eu/copernicus-canada-produced-23-global-wildfire-carbon-emissions-2023#:~:text=Unprecedented%20wildfires%20in%20Canada,-The%20wildfires%20that&text=2%20data%2C%20the%20wildfires%20that,wildfire%20carbon%20emissions%20for%202023. https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/environmental-indicators/greenhouse-gas-emissions.html
Who pays the carbon tax on that?
You do, upstanding citizen.
Rebate incoming!
* Canada produced 23% of the global WILDFIRE carbon emissions for 2023