The Proprietor Review

The 2021 wild fire season was about the same as previous seasons,however the fires were much more aggressive.

Just south of 900,000 hectares burned. There were 300 fires at one time most of the summer with 67 of them fires of note. Dry fuel conditions may have contributed to a more exciting fire season then was realized. Over 1600 wildfires designated over the summer made up the active and most notable part of the fire season, The fire season will officially end March 31st 2022, the last day of the provinces fiscal year.

There were 304 evacuation alerts, 181 evacuations.. More than 4000 people worked on fires throughout the province of British Columbia. The fire season of 2021 also had over a hundred wildfire fighters from Mexico join the fight.

The the determining factor in the severity of a fire season is the loss of human life and property. The town of Lytton BC was 90% destroyed by a fire that purportedly came up the natural draft that the Fraser river valley provided. Two people lost their lives in a hasty evacuation that was called on in a matter of minutes notice. As of October 14th 2021 the notion that a CPR train started the fire was debunked by the RCMP on investigation.

The town of Lytton did break a Canadian heat record just before the fire started. During 50° c temperatures at the top of a inverting heat dome the fire that destroyed Lytton somehow was incubated.

The BC state of emergency lasted 56 days, ending on on September 14th 2021.There was 565 million dollars spent in this time frame.

Cooler weather and rain was the determining factor in the success of the fire suppression. Large forest fires often produce weather and rain by its submission of particulate into the atmosphere as it reacts with water vapor evaporated from the hot dry conditions previous to the fire. Human presence and property does not allow this dynamic to be fully exploited in our modern era.