Wildfire Fighting in BC

April - August 2017

2017 was one of the most destructive fire seasons on record in BC, with over 1300 fires burning over 1.2 million hectares throughout the province. I spent that summer as a unit crew member in the Rocky Mountain Unit Crew, based out of Cranbrook BC.

Our crew was initially focused on flood response and mitigation around Kelowna, where a state of emergency was declared after numerous creeks and Lake Okanagan flooded. We quickly transitioned into fighting fires however, and worked on a number of large fires in different parts of the province, the largest being the Elephant Hill Fire in Cashe Creek.

(Photo taken on July 7. Matti J. Lagerborn photo credit.)