Northerners should be prepared for wildfire threat
This article, by Dave Paxton, Fire Chief of Thunder Bay Fire Rescue, was originally published in the Chronicle Journal on August 3, 2024.
Wildfires are a fact of life in Northern Onatrio. Surrounded by the boreal forest, we are never far from the wildland urban interface, the area where forest meets human settlement and wildfires present the greatest risk.
Over the past several years the impact of wildfires across the Canadian landscape has increased to the point where all levels of government are focussing effor on emergency wildfire preparedness, and everyone has a role to play.
While the total number of fires hasn't grown, there has been an increase in the large, more extreme fires that are more difficult to control. The reason for this shift is multi-faceted, however a major impact has been climate change increasing the amound of "red flag days", the dry hot, windy days that allow fires to advance quickly and challenge even the most prepared firefighters' ability to control these events.
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