Lumber traders are used to following with interest the impact of seasonal wildfires on lumber markets. The devastation and widespread impact of the Fort McMurray mega-fire is causing all of us to expand focus to broader concerns beyond seasonal gauging of forest fire effect on lumber prices.

This article today by Mark Hume in The Globe and Mail draws attention to the growing threat that mega-fires pose for their “deep and long-lasting social, economic, and environmental impacts”.  It’s pointed out that the increasing frequency of those very large fires is of real concern. A climate change wildfire action draft plan by the B.C. Ministry of Forests predicts that in the near future, the average size of fires will more than double in size. We’re told fire severity is projected to increase by 40 per cent in the spring and 95 per cent in the summer, and the length of the fire season is expected to increase by 30 per cent. It’s suggested that the solution, according to fire experts, is to reduce fuel loads in the forest before they explode. “That means more controlled burns and the creation of ‘fuel breaks’ by widening roads or logging strategically around communities.”

In the face of projections for increased number of mega-fires, we’re also told this report last year by B.C.’s Forest Practices Board (FPB) found the program has fallen short in preventative measures. “Unfortunately, over the past ten years, only 10% or less of hazardous forest fuels have been treated. Funding to protect at-risk communities in B.C. by removing interface fuel sources is inadequate” stated the report.