Hiring MacMillan Bloedel to fight forest fires

I made a post about fighting forest fires talking about the problem of preignitions and using helicopters instead of water bombers. Water bombers are more bang for the buck and preignitions are problematic for obvious reasons. Let's give them the benefit of the doubt. Let's pretend they aren't intentionally trying to burn the province to the ground and are simply stupid. So let's talk about a simple solution that wouldn't cost a penny.

The theory behind pre ignitions is to make it so that the forest fire runs out of fuel and goes out on it's own. It's a good idea. The obvious problem is if the fire is moving south it is because the wind it blowing south. If the wind is blowing south and you set a new fire south of the existing fire the southernly wind isn't going to cause the new fire to move north towards the existing fire.

If the wind is blowing south and you light a new fire south of the existing fire, the new fire is just going to make it worse which is exactly what we saw last summer in Kelowna. This is why everyone thinks they are trying to burn the province down on purpose. They are making a collective set of bad decisions. Not allowing volunteers to help is another.

I have a very simple and cost effective solution that I've mentioned before but I forgot to mention in my last post so I'm going to say it again loud and proud. Let's take the preignition theory and improve it. Let's hire MacMillan Bloedel or whatever they're called now.

If we have a forest fire let's call up a tree harvesting company like MacMillan Bloedel. We tell them alright guys, we have a forest fire every man on deck. We will give you a temporary permit to clear cut a narrow strip of trees in whatever direction the fire is heading. That way when the fire gets to the clear cut it will run out of fuel and we haven't started a new fire and made it worse.

This is a win win situation because it would work and it wouldn't cost us a penny. We just tell them, we're not going to pay you but you get to keep all the profits from the trees you harvest. That way they would make a profit from fighting forest fires safely and effectively.

We need to start doing this. It is a very simple and cost effective solution. It would be easy. Just send in a couple of those tree harvesting machines and it's done instantly. We also need to bring back tree planting. Narrow clear cuts instead of preignitions would create far less CO2 emissions.

Speaking of tree planting. Remember we used to have that forestry place in Green Timbers that would create seedlings for tree planting? They got rid of it and put in the RCMP HQ. We need to bring back forestry centres preparing seedlings to plant and replenish the forests after fires.