As we approach what experts predict will be another brutal wildfire season in B.C., I’m writing out of deep concern, and with a plea for proactive leadership.
It’s mid-May 2025, and while the province is not yet under siege from forest fires, and the backcountry remains open, the writing is on the wall, or rather, in the sky. The snowpack vanished early, the ground is dry, and the forecasts are anything but comforting. Everyone from climatologists to firefighters are warning us, this summer could rival the worst we’ve ever seen.
Which is why I ask: why wait? Just imagine what Chilliwack would be like if the Chilliwack River Valley, Cultus Lake, the Columbia Valley, the Eastern Hillsides, or even Harrison Hot Springs, or any other location near us were to be consumed by forest fire. It's unimaginable. Yet we are at far greater risk in this area with the larger population density that will descend upon our backcountry from now until the cooler weather in the fall. With the large increase in homeless camps in our local forests, the risks are even higher.
We’ve been here before. 2017, 2018, 2023 - entire communities upended or erased. People displaced. Lives lost. Recovery that takes years, if it ever comes. And every time, we hear the same post-mortem: “We should’ve acted sooner.”
This year, let’s actually do that.
Close the backcountry preemptively, and remove the homeless camps before disaster hits. It won't be easy, or fair to some, but everyone is a risk.
I say this as someone who values Crown land access deeply. I hike, I camp, I fish, I hunt, I photograph. These wild spaces are sacred to many of us. But keeping them open during extreme wildfire risk is not freedom, it’s foolishness. And the price of that gamble is paid by small towns, Indigenous communities, rural residents, and everywhere that forest fire smoke invades with its toxic particulates.
Yes, many of us in B.C. have behaved responsibly. Yet, human caused fires have caused on average, 39 per cent of them in recent years. It only takes one discarded cigarette, fireworks, or a tailpipe over dry grass to light the fuse.
Let’s not rely on luck this year. Let’s rely on leadership.
The B.C. government must establish a clear, enforceable policy for closing high-risk backcountry areas when wildfire risk reaches critical levels, before the flames do. This shouldn’t be a reactive panic measure, instead it should be a well-communicated, repeatable part of fire season response. Much like avalanche forecasts guide winter backcountry access, fire risk should guide summer closures.
And while tourism will undoubtedly take a temporary hit, the alternative is long-term economic ruin for regions scorched and shuttered by fire. The short-term losses are nothing compared to the devastation of a fire like Elephant Hill, Lytton, or White Rock Lake.
It’s time we stopped treating the fire season like an exception. It’s now the rule.
So to Premier David Eby and the Government of British Columbia: Close the backcountry before it burns.
To my fellow British Columbians: if you truly love your backcountry escapes, prove it by staying out when the danger is high. No fires. No fireworks. No risk. If you see someone being reckless, report it, and record it.
Let’s be smart this year. Not selfish. Not reactive. Not sorry.
To the wildfire crews preparing for another exhausting summer: thank you. We see you. We support you.
Let’s give them fewer fires to fight.
Sincerely,
Carsten Arnold
Chilliwack
