After all this time, we’re still careless about playing with fire

FRIDAY MORNING EDITORIAL — Wildfires are frightening beasts. The really big ones create their own weather systems  and cover ground faster than a human being can run. If they have the right conditions, nothing can stop them.

Something else is frightening — the stupidity of people who cause them. As reports come in from fire centres around the province, they carry an almost desperate plea for people to be careful. And, the next day, another and then another.

The message is, please don’t be part of the problem. Most of the wildfires currently being experience in B.C. have been started by lightning. The rest have been started by people.

During the first two days of this week, the Kamloops Wildfire Centre responded to 26 fires. Seven of them were caused by humans.

Every time a fire is reported, it has to be checked out. If it’s confirmed, and crews respond, it means any combination of spotter planes, helicopters, airtankers, ground crews, water trucks, bulldozers. It’s expensive.

The McLure fire in 2003 cost $3.1 million plus $8.2 million in property losses. Seventy-two homes and nine businesses were destroyed. The town of Barriere barely escaped. The McLure fire was human-caused.

When campfires and open fires are banned, it’s an attempt to reduce the number of wildfires started by people. When the Wildfire Management Branch states in a wildfire advisory that “human-caused wildfires can divert critical resources and crews needed to fight naturally occurring wildfires,” and that bans are being put in place “to help prevent human-caused wildfires and protect public safety,” we should take heed.