Aired: Aug. 10, 2026 on CBC’s Information Morning (Halifax):
Is B.C. more susceptible to wildfires compared to the East Coast?
“Carolyn talks to a wildfire expert who says there’s a simple universal recipe for wildfires—it only takes three ingredients.”
This Item is cited on NSFM under
– In the News – Wildfire/Extreme Weather
ROUGH TRANSCRIPT
CBC Intro:
Nova Scotians have been watching the wildfire season out west. Understanding the stress that many communities are facing. Right now there are more than 100 wildfires burning across British Columbia that province is under a state of emergency and one person, an 80 year old woman, has died.
As we see what is happening on the other coast, some may be wondering:
– Is the risk of a fire equal on both sides of the country?
– Are there lessons we can learn from there forest management or vice versa?
We reached Mike Flanagan for his thoughts. He’s the science director for Canada Wildfire and is a Professor of Wildland Fire at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops
I spoke with him on Friday.
INTERVIEW
CBC: Do you think BC is more susceptible to severe wildfires compared to the East Coast? I mean obviously BC is much bigger, it has more forest but are there other factors at play here?
MF: So first you know we see fires in Canada from sea to sea to sea. If you think back to 2023, Barrington, and 2025 was… you had some extreme fire danger.
But the way I look at wildfires, there’s a recipe and it’s universal, applies in Nova Scotia, applies in British Columbia, applies in Amazon.
You need three ingredients:
– Vegetation, we call it fuel, how much, how dry, what type.
– second, you need Ignition – people and lightning.
– and 3rd you need hot dry windy weather.
So let’s look at each of these. The vegetation in BC is forest as it is largely Nova Scotia but our forests are almost all conifers whereas you have many more broad leaves and they’re less flammable than the conifers.
OK so right away our vegetation is more flammable.
Second we see a lot more lightning in British Columbia, it’s our primary cause of fires. In Nova Scotia it’s human cause which are preventable whereas lightning unfortunately we cannot prevent lightning and lightning caused fires.
And the third reason, it is generally hotter and drier and British Columbia during our summers, our fire season, than Nova Scotia, especially in the dry side.
So it’s easier for a fire to start and because we’re drier these fires burn more intensely and that makes it difficult to impossible to extinguish.
CBC: I just want to touch on something you mentioned, that BC has more conifers which helps fuel the wildfires. Now recently on this show a forest ecologist spoke to us about Nova Scotia’s approach to high production forestry which involves clearing existing forests and replacing them with conifer trees which as you mentioned are vulnerable to fire and drought. What do you make of that? [2:45]
MF: So the biggest problem with conifers relative to the broadleaf species is that conifers can support what we call crown fires. So it spreads from the forest floor, to the tops, or crowns of the tree. And when that happens you can have flames 50 meters even 100 meters or more times; and those fires are difficult to impossible to extinguish.
We don’t see those types of fires with the broad leafs like aspens or maples and that that’s the issue, but economics is driving the conifer conversion.And so it’s something to be aware of.
But you know I’d like to point out that last year, there was extreme fire danger in Nova Scotia and they restricted access to the forest…I know that it’s not very popular but it’s a very effective tool for stopping human caused fires which are your most significant problem in Nova Scotia.
So these kind of tools we can use to help prevent some of these fires.
CBC: Has BC had similar bans on entering the forest like Nova Scotia did?
MF: So I actually recommend they do, and there’s a distinction here that I want to make clear. Most of the lands in BC are public lands owned by the government, OK, much the land in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are private land and there could be some litigation potential, you know saying you can’t restrict access to my own property and that’s for the courts to sort out.
But for public lands, we should be doing it during periods of extreme fire danger because it’s a very effective tool to stopping human caused fires. As our fire bans, as long as you observe them. And this means that there’s more fighting fighter resources to fight those lightning fires that we can’t prevent. 4:47
But it needs to be proactive and you want to do it before the province gets on fire. In most years, you probably won’t need it but in the bad years you might. And last year Nova Scotia & New Brunswick did it proactively, and that’s the way to do it. It’s another tool. it’s kind of a last resort but it’s a very effective tool.
CBC: When we look at the size of a fire in BC compared to here, the difference can be staggering as you mentioned, that comparison to Prince Edward Island. But is the size the biggest concern when you’re looking at a forest fire?
MF: Not really, it’s kind of like real estate: location, location, location. So you can have a fairly relatively small fire but if it burns homes and businesses and impacts critical infrastructure like power, not necessarily just how large it is, it’s where it’s located and so it’s at the end of the day it’s about impact on people, [5:44]
You know you can have a large fire in the Northwoods and doesn’t have much impact because it’s just Mother Nature doing her thing. And it’s actually in some cases beneficial; fire is great knocking down spruce budworm in the east, mountain pine Beetle where I am, and it’s only negative side is the smoke which can travel long distances and cause all sorts of problems because smoke is not healthy.
CBC: So Mike if you were advising Nova Scotia to on how to mitigate the impacts of the fire season in the years to come, what would you advise?
MF: Public education, OK that’sa well informed public is the best way to deal with the future fire situation.
… some of the research I did years ago suggested that the West and the north would catch on fire 1st and we’re seeing increasing fire there but mid century eastern Canada would start to burn.
I’m starting to rethink that after 2023 and then 2025; maybe we’re going to see a lot more fire in the east.
So you know having a well informed public is a good way to start. There’s a program called FireSmart and there’s seven principles to make your home and community more fire resilient. And we should be using FireSmart more in our community especially those near conifers.
But you know when things get extreme, everything will burn, even those broadleaf forests and especially in spring and fall.
Also if you see a fire, report right away; most fires are reported by the public. So be vigilant, observe fire bans, report fires look at FireSmart and be prepared.
CBC: well Mike thank you for your thoughts and I hope your skies clear up soon.
MF: So do I thank you.
CBC: Mike Flanagan is a Professor of Wildland Fire at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops BC. He’s also the science director for Canada Wildfire