Tag Archives: 2023 Wildfires

Fire

‘Earliest ever’ fire ban takes effect in B.C. Coastal Fire Centre

Editor’s Note: As of noon on Thursday May 7, 2026, the is a total fire ban on Cortes Island, Quadra Island and all other parts of the Strathcona Regional District. Campfires, backyard fires and beach fires are not permitted.

By Nora O’Malley, Ha-Shilth-Sa, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter – With a file from Denise Titian

Vancouver Island, B.C. – As of Thursday, May 7 at noon, camping trips on B.C.’s coast will entail empty fire pits. 

The provincial government says open fires throughout the Coastal Fire Centre’s jurisdiction, with exceptions for Haida Gwaii, are prohibited. The prohibition will be in place until October 31, 2026, or until the order is rescinded. 

“It’s the earliest ever, but at the same time it’s certainly dry out there. After last year we certainly don’t want any more wildfires,” said Sproat Lake Volunteer Fire Department Chief Mike Cann.

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Disaster

Canada’s 2023 Wildfire Season Linked to 82,000 Deaths Worldwide

By Michelle Gamage, The Tyee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Researchers have crunched data on excess deaths and calculated that Canada’s 2023 wildfire season shortened the lives of 82,000 people worldwide.

The smokiest days caused about 5,400 acute extra deaths across North America alone, according to the research published Wednesday in the journal Nature.

That means wildfire smoke is about as deadly as prostate cancer, Michael Brauer told The Tyee.

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Cost of Climate Change

Pemberton’s six big moves on climate change, three years in

By Luke Faulkes, Pique Magazine, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

On March 15, 2022, the Village of Pemberton (VOP) declared a climate emergency in response to a local youth-led climate action petition. The declaration, though largely symbolic, detailed the human and financial costs of letting climate change run rampant. The Village has seen devastating flooding and forest fires in the years since.

“The impacts of climate change are obvious,” said Pemberton Mayor Mike Richman. “[The declaration] gave us something to rally around.”

Directly following the declaration, the Village of Pemberton published a Community Climate Action Plan (CCAP), which charts a path towards net-zero emissions by 2050 through six “big moves.”

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Cost of Climate Change, Fire

3 things you need to know about wildfires in BC

By Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

Wildfire season is never really over. 

When infernos subside in one region, they begin somewhere else. As the world continues to heat up and the climate changes, forested areas like British Columbia will experience greater wildfire impacts year-round, including on the physical and mental health of frontline firefighters.

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Fire

Burning out: B.C. wildfire fighters share stories from the frontlines

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By Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

“It’s like someone turned the fire switch on and it’s just not stopping.”

That’s what wildfire ecologist Kira Hoffman told me in November, as we discussed our new wildfire reality. I can’t help but think back to that conversation today, as we watch the out-of-control blazes burn Los Angeles, putting at least 180,000 residents under evacuation orders and engulfing entire neighbourhoods in the second-largest U.S. city. It’s all happening in January, a month that should have brought some rain to southern California; instead, the region is drought-stricken and bone dry.

It points to an uncomfortable reality: we need to be thinking about wildfires year-round, and not just when fires are actively burning where we live.

Continue reading Burning out: B.C. wildfire fighters share stories from the frontlines →