How climate change is increasing forest fires in BC, Canada.

This story map will explain how and why climate change is increasing the amount of forest fires in British Columbia, Canada.

Dalle, Sami

What is?

This issue I am talking about here is forest fires. Forest fires are when a random fire starts in the middle of a forest and starts to spread rapidly. Forest fires are made up of natural and human made systems. A natural system in this case would be lightning hitting the trees in the forest, which initiates the fire in the first place. On the other hand, human made systems such as climate change warm up the climate along with drying up the trees and grass, allowing fires to spread quicker and get out of control. The main cause of climate change that is human influenced is the increased emissions of CO2 in our atmosphere. Some things that emit CO2 are planes, cars, factories, etc. The heat makes it more likely for fires to spread quickly and do more damage along with a higher chance of lightning. Some trends in this issue include the fact that because climate change is warming up the earth’s climate, we have been seeing an increase in wild and forest fires in western Canada, causing more CO2 to be released into the atmosphere.

Graph showing relations of GHG emissions and fire area

One interesting fact about this graph is that it shows how whenever there is a spike in the amount of hectares burned from fire, there is a spike in the amount of GHG's emitted into the atmosphere. This is important and I will talk more about it in the "Why Care?" section.

Where?

The province in Canada I am talking about for the wild and forest fires is British Columbia, more specifically the Kamloops and the southeast regions of BC where most of the recent wildfires have been. One pattern that is noticeable is the fact that wild and forest fires are more likely to happen in drier and warmer climates. The most common area in BC that this issue is happening in is the mostly the southernmost regions in BC, which is why they have such a warm climate. Also, because these regions are east of the rocky mountains, all of the moisture from the pacific ocean is getting absorbed by the vegetation on the mountains, leaving the east sides of it dry. This is why these regions are culprits of wild and forest fires. To give a better understanding of the type of land we are dealing with, I have gathered that the landform region is in the Western Cordillera, the climate region is the Cordilleran region, and the vegetation region is the Cordilleran Vegetation region.

Why there?

The reason the wild and forest fires are happening in the Kamloops and Southeast regions of BC is because they are located in the southernmost parts of the province, locating them closest to the equator making them extremely hot. The reason why those regions are so dry, however, is because they are located east of the rocky mountains. So when moisture and rain comes from the pacific ocean, it all lands on the rocky mountains, making that region very wet, whereas they make the eastern parts of it really dry and humid. Because of the dryness and humidity, it makes it easier for fire to spread if it starts. One human made system that is causing these regions to be so warm is Climate Change. Climate Change is causing places all over the world to become hotter, and it is affecting the Kamloops and Southeast regions of BC. Natural systems, such as lightning, also help in the initiation of wild and forest fires, when lightning strikes a tree in the middle of a dry forest, it starts a fire on that tree, then the fire spreads, destroying everything. So you can see that both natural and human made systems are not only playing a part in why forest fires are happening more often and more deadly, but you can also see that they are related with each other and one is causing the other to get worse and vise versa.

Why care?

This reason this issue is so important is because although climate change is a main reason why wild and forest fires are happening, wild and forest fires also play a decent part in why Climate Change is happening. This is because trees store lots of CO2 in them, from when they absorb it during photosynthesis, and so because of that, if the trees get burned, century's worth of CO2 gets emitted into the atmosphere, causing climate change to become worse. So if we are able to quickly put out or find a way to reduce the amount of fires, not only will we save lots of peoples lives, we can also help stop Climate Change. Another reason this issue is important, is because of the fact that when a fire breaks out and destroys homes and acres of land, then the government has to pay to repair a lot of the damage, which costs them lots of money, so we will also be helping the economy of Canada if we are able to find a way to reduce the amount of wild and forest fires. This issue is relevant to Canadian geography because these wild and forest fires are affecting lots of lives as well as damaging the land of Canada. If we don’t do anything about this issue, then fires could potentially spread to other parts of Canada, having a big potential of destroying more homes and land.

Implications

The social implications are that people are going to have to flee their homes if we allow these wildfires to spread across Canada and it is making the air quality a lot worse and can give people lung problems. The economical implications are that Canada is spending a lot of money in order to repair the damages of wildfires, and so it is hurting the economy a lot. The environmental implications of the issue is that when a fire breaks out in the middle of the forest, it destroys all the life in the area, including the plants, trees, animals, and pretty much everything there. Also, because trees store CO2, when fire destroys all the trees, all of the CO2 stored gets released into the atmosphere, helping Climate Change become worse. The political implications are that because of all the wildfires, it is putting pressure on the government to fix things up, and if people start to lose trust, then chaos could erupt in the country.

What to do?

Some things that could be done to stop wildfires quickly is to have a method of controlling the fire like having a barrier around to stop it or have quick methods of putting out wildfires like helicopters or cars ready if a fire breaks out and to be near places that scientist say is a "hot spot" for fires. Somethings people are thinking that we could potentially do to bring more moisture to places just east of the Rocky Mountains is that we could build a pipelines under the rocky mountains in order to bring moisture to the dryer areas. Some ways people have learned to adapt to wildfires are by actually letting some wildfires burn out a bit longer, in order to reduce the amount of fuel built up in the forest in a controlled way, therefore reducing the chance of a massive, uncontrollable wildfire in the future. Also, people have learned to control wildfires by allowing the trees along the edges of the forest to burn in order to make it kind of like a barrier to not let fire escape.

Citations

Anonymous (2003) [Digital image] Valour Canada Retrieved from  https://valourcanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/2003-BC-Fires_reg.jpg 

Anonymous (2019) [Firefighter In Wildfire Training][Digital image] Retrieved from  https://i.cbc.ca/1.5132284.1557531524!/cumulusImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_780/wildfire-bootcamp.jpg 

Ho, S. (2020, September 15). How weather, COVID-19 spared Canada from wildfires like those in the U.S. Retrieved October 05, 2020, from  https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/how-weather-covid-19-spared-canada-from-wildfires-like-those-in-the-u-s-1.5105000 

Rasmussen, G. (2020, October 04). Why cleaning the forest could help fight fires - but it won't be easy | CBC News. Retrieved October 05, 2020, from  https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/forest-fire-control-british-columbia-1.5738140