Over a million hectares have been burned in wildfires in B.C. and the Northwest Territories so far this year.
As wildfires creep toward cities and towns, often, a yellowish or greyish haze is visible in the sky.
Earlier this week, smoke from three small wildfires in the Enterprise Creek and Texas Creek areas was visible in Lillooet and nearby communities.
But the smoke from wildfires can — and does — reach much, much further than the site of the fire itself.
Thanks to some unique clouds formed by intense forest fires, meteorologists have tracked the smoke from wildfires currently raging in Northern Canada all the way to Portugal.
Pyrocumulonimbus clouds act as a kind of funnel for smoke and ash, carrying them up to 15 kilometres into the atmosphere.
Once the smoke reaches the stratosphere — the second layer of the earth’s atmosphere about 15 kilometres above the ground — it levels off a bit and can easily travel extremely long distances.
The smoke and these distinct, cauliflower-shaped clouds from northern wildfires can be seen from space.
And where the smoke goes, the negative effects of it go too.
Think of the smoke from a wildfire like that from a volcanic eruption, except on a smaller scale.
In B.C. alone, the Wildfire Management Branch has responded to nearly 1,000 blazes so far, 233 of which were within the Kamloops Fire Centre.
With hot and dry weather expected to continue, the branch expects more fires to pop up and add to the workload B.C. wildland firefighters face already.
The province has called in help in the form of firefighters, incident management workers and support staff from across Canada and even Australia who will be deployed around the province as they’re needed or anticipated to be needed.
Of the 12 fires of note currently in B.C., most are believed to have been caused by lightning.
While some of the negative effects of fires on ecosystems are obvious — such a the destruction of wildlife habitat — there are some positive, less obvious effects as well.
Wildfires can be part of a natural cycle that re-invigorates the nutrients in soil, promoting plant growth by disturbing it and getting rid of dead plant matter at ground level.
Fire clears a forest’s canopy, which also promotes growth at lower levels as sunlight is able to penetrate.
But that soil recovery can take a long time, depending on the severity of the fire. For instance, lightning strikes can create “hot spots” beneath the ground, which kills what’s starting to root and grow underground. Hot spots can also spring into more fires unexpectedly.
If even naturally-occurring wildfires can have devastating consequences, clearly, people need to be cautious where it’s possible that human activity could spark a fire.
For now, the campfire ban is still in effect everywhere in the Kamloops Fire Centre except the Clearwater Fire Zone.
Fire danger ratings around the Kamloops Fire Centre are considered high and even extreme in some areas — such as Merritt.
When you think of the potential economic and environmental costs of a campfire gone uncontrolled, why play with fire?
