From traditional knowledge to FireSmart, Okanagan leaders focus on wildfire risks

First Nation leaders, fire chiefs and politicians in the Okanagan say good planning can help prevent disasters like last year's McDougall Creek wildfire.

Westbank First Nation Chief Robert Louie is cautiously optimistic about how this year’s fire season will play out.

It’s already much less traumatic than this time last year, when theMcDougall Creek wildfire destroyed nearly 200 homes and large swaths of land and trees.

“But we’re not out of the woods yet,” Louie said. “It’s only mid-August.”

The latter half of August has often been when wildfires have the worst effects in the Okanagan. Before McDougall Creek, there was the 2003 Okanagan Mountain Park wildfire, which had previously been unprecedented.

“When you get into your 70s, where I am right now, I’ve seen some things happen in the past but I did not expect 50 or 60 years ago, for example, that we’d be looking at this devastation from fires,”  Louie said.

“It’s reality, and it’s almost expected, and it’s only getting worse. We’ve got to do what we can to deal with the environment to protect it, and that takes the whole country to work together in that regard.”

West Kelowna Fire Chief Jason Brolund is also focused on how to protect his community amid an ever-changing landscape. He made international headlines last year when he traveled to New York to speak at a United Nations conference on climate change, encouraging world leaders to take action.

He’s still hoping for that change.