Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Forestry Uncut gives voice to the people, issues, and aspirations shaping forestry today, offering the public a clearer view of the industry while providing space for forestry professionals to share their stories in their own words.
A podcast dedicated to uncovering the raw truths and realities of the forestry sector, hosted by Forest Nova Scotia's Executive Director Todd Burgess.
Speaker 1 0:00
An out of control wildfire burning in Nova scotia's Annapolis County, a wildfire has been burning out of control. We really can't imagine what it must feel like, and also, with the added anxiety of not knowing what's happening to your home,
Speaker 2 0:17
a bird's eye view from a Cessna shows just how out of control the Long Lake wildfire grew this weekend.
Todd Burgess 0:24
The glass from the window that was from the garage, it actually melted. I'm Todd Burgess. I'm the executive director of forest Nova Scotia, and you are listening to forestry uncut the West Dalhousie fire burned through more than 8400 hectares of forest, one of the largest wildfires this region has ever seen. For those of us who work in forestry, it was more than just a blaze on a map, it was in our backyards, with our livelihoods and our communities that were under threat. In this episode, we'll share some perspectives that go beyond what you may have heard in the media.
Speaker 3 1:03
I am a Regional Forester for the Department of Natural Resources or the western part of the province. I work on the Integrated Resource Management Team.
Todd Burgess 1:10
Integrated Resource Management Team. Okay, so what does that mean?
Speaker 3 1:15
So basically, what that means is anything that happens on Crown land in the western part of the province is overseen by my team, so I am a team of foresters, biologists and like land admin specialists.
Todd Burgess 1:29
During that fire, Caitlin Enders served as the heavy equipment coordinator, working with operators, contractors and community members to bring every possible resource to the front lines together. We'll talk about what it was like on the ground during those critical days, how communities and industry worked together side by side, and what we can learn from this huge incident that was a big fire, 8400 hectares, and you were the heavy equipment coordinator. So tell me a little bit more about that. So what did you have to do
Speaker 3 2:04
when I arrived, there was already 37 pieces of equipment.
Todd Burgess 2:08
So when you say pieces of equipment, what do you mean by pieces of equipment?
Speaker 3 2:12
So typical dozer group is a Buncher that leads away by cutting all the trees and then followed by an excavator that is clearing the stump, scrubbing off the surface. It could be one or two, and then a dozer comes behind it and kind of makes, almost like a road, and then pushes the rest of the dirt and material up on the other side to create a guard.
Todd Burgess 2:32
Okay, so that's three or four pieces of gear in one group, and you had 37 pieces of gear when you showed up.
Speaker 3 2:41
Yeah, and I included in that gear is our float operators, and we had some forwarders that were used as water tanks to carry around through the woods and help the crews. Actually, they had pumps attached to the back of them, and people were working hose lines off of them.
Todd Burgess 2:53
So Okay, that sounds like a big, big effort, so your role was to coordinate that, or what, what did you do to coordinate?
Speaker 3 3:02
Yeah, so each dozer group had a dozer boss, and so they were laying flag. They were leading their kind of crews along the fire's edge, in the perimeter. And it was my job to coordinate between the different divisions of the fire and the different dovers of groups, to figure out what equipment that they needed when they needed it. And, you know, certain landscapes were different than others. So those really rocky, rough going landscapes, you know, required a 50 ton excavator. But where we, you know, we had 20 ton excavators on site. You know, those more sites that didn't necessarily require that, you know, moving that equipment around and trying to help our dose of bosses as best as possible. So, how
Todd Burgess 3:41
did you find all these pieces of equipment? Where did you go?
Speaker 3 3:45
You know, Nova Scotians are so willing to help that I didn't have to look that far. People were calling in, giving their name, telling me what pieces of equipment they had if I needed them. You know, talking to the contractors. Oh, I know somebody that you know has another 50 ton. So equipment was just kind of rolling my way. But through, through the department, there is, you know, a system that when things first came happen, people just showed up, and it was what we need to happen. But as we became more established, we needed to go through the proper protocols and systems. So it had to go up to the command center, and all these requests had come in officially with the Nova Scotia guard. So we had developed that previous to the 2023 fires, and people have gone through this training. We have, you know, lists of contractors there, so we really wanted to connect with them and utilize them for that,
Todd Burgess 4:45
to understand why and how the community stepped up. We're joined by someone who knows these forests and this community better than most,
Speaker 4 4:54
so I'm a sixth generation sawmiller, so Freeman family has lived on the Medway river since 1830 Two and 1832 1832 so we've we've been at it for a long time. We're probably not the oldest sawmill in North America, but we're among the oldest continuous operations in in North America. So something we're pretty proud of, our perspective, is unique, at least our family, we don't look at the business cycle as much as we look generationally. When we talk about sustainability, we're not even thinking about 100 year timber supply. We're thinking beyond
Todd Burgess 5:35
when the fire first broke out. Stephen Freeman and his family company were among the community members who stepped up helping to supply heavy equipment and support the response effort.
Speaker 4 5:47
I'm not a religious person, but you know, something like this was an act of God, and it's going to take an act of God to put it out. I know industry and DNR have worked close together to fight the fire, and a spectacular job has been done. But, yeah, this one really hits home. I mean, I'm a 20 year first responder myself. I'm a volunteer firefighter, but we had a qualified crew that we sent from our station in Bridgewater. They pumped water for for a long time and filled a lot of trucks, and, you know, we were able to make an impact that way, and I was able to provide coverage in town, of course. But no, I've worked many wildfires. It's dirty work. I know working, you know, just fight, doing structural firefighting. You know, it's intense and but the contractors, the logging contractors and construction contractors that were out there building dozer guards, they worked weeks on end straight, and so I take zero credit for what those folks did. It's real heroism. What they did?
Todd Burgess 7:04
Okay? Oh, that's that's good to know. Hopefully we can get some of those stories as we continue.
Speaker 4 7:11
It's an important story to tell, right? Nobody was there for obviously, contractors get paid in that sort of situation. You don't work 21 days straight because you're concerned about a paycheck. And I've talked to a few of the folks that work the fire, and they're there because they care, and we all care deeply about the forest. It's our livelihood. And you know, loggers get painted with a bad rap sometimes, and when you see folks out there in the community, you know your your RNC Weir, who we work with, Eisner's forestry, who we work with, back country farm and forestry. I could go on and on with the list of contractors that stepped up. You know, at one point, out of our own contractor base, there are 30 pieces of equipment work in there, and maybe more our own employees. Our own 50 ton excavator was there from Freeman lumber. And really, in terms of response, everyone wanted to do what they could. They wanted the call. People were waiting for the call.
Todd Burgess 8:25
Now that we've walked through the fire itself and the incredible community response, it's time to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. What can we learn from the west dhazi Fire, and what lessons are we taking forward to prevent, prepare for and respond to future fires more effectively? What do you feel like you learned on your role with this wildfire for the future? Because we're going to get more we're going to get other wildfires, especially in I think we're probably ripe for one in northern Nova, Scotia, Fiona, going through. So what have you learned? What? What do we need to do different? What do we have to prepare for?
Speaker 3 9:05
I think that every fire you know, provides a different experience. And like you said, you know, had it happened in the more eastern part of the province where Fiona, you know, struck, and you have all those, you know, laddered fuels and everything that that was like, you know, a huge concern this fire season, but all we can do is continue to try to remove those kind of fuels that are left in the woods. You know, a lot of planning needs to happen. And so we know we need more training within the department to kind of prepare people for these large scale events, you know, are really good at putting out fires at small scale, so much to the point where, like the general public doesn't always hear about them, because we've rapidly responded, we've put it out. And, you know, it doesn't really become anything of it. Because. It was such a rapid response. But when these large scale fires happen, and, you know, we are doing the best our ability to coordinate and bring everything together, it does take, you know, several days to kind of get your your head wrapped around things that you're, you know, get a handle on the situation that is ever changing every day that the weather brings something different. Like, you know, it's all I can say. It's just more more planning, more, you know, things in place. Like, you know, for these contractors that came and just like a call to duty, you know, we need to have rates in place beforehand. We need to have, you know, contracts that are are designed so when you know, they call upon these people and they ask for help that they you know, they're these documentations, these, all this, this information is known ahead of time. And I think that's our biggest like, Yeah,
Todd Burgess 10:52
after a fire, the work doesn't stop. When the flames go out, one of the biggest questions is, what happens to all that burnt wood? Can it be salvaged? Can we replant and restore the forest to a productive, healthy state? 8400 hectares. That is a big that's almost 20 How big is that? 18,000 acres. You know, I'm just trying to put it into perspective for some of our listeners, what about all that burnt wood that's there? Is there any burnt wood that you'll be able to use? Or what can we do with that? What about replanting? Do you know about any plans to get it back to a productive forest again?
Speaker 4 11:35
So there's options. When fire ripped through tantallon, we did a bunch of salvage harvests, and with the artificial intelligence we have in the mill, we can tell the difference between rot and burn, for instance. So we have the ability to process that wood. And I think the fire itself was a tragedy. I think the biggest tragedy would be if there was, you know, if that forest resource went to waste, and there wasn't an opportunity to create a new forest, I think, you know, in my personal opinion, there's going to be an opportunity to harvest some of that wood. The window is short. You have about a year before it becomes valueless, and it starts to blow over. And, you know, I want to see new forest there. I want to see it sustainably managed. You have a bunch of different landowners there. We lost two very nice woodlots. Freeman lumber lost two very nice wood lots and narrow road lots. Okay, we lost our own wood lots. And there's a lot of different landowners there with a lot of different objectives, but it would be a tragedy if that wood didn't get cleaned up and used, in my personal opinion, and I think, you know, yeah, It's, it's an opportunity to provide some closure and help the folks that had to experience that in their own backyard move on as well. I know when we did work in tantallon area after the fire, people were just so grateful to have that black mess cleaned up and see a new forest be replanted. And I think I'm hoping that we see a lot of that in the wake of this fire, and I hope a lot of this wood is salvageable, because, you know, if it lays down and dies, it's just going to create more fire load, and it's going to stop a new forest from growing. You know, like I said, not a forester, but I know a lot of foresters, and we're all saying they're all saying the same thing.
Todd Burgess 13:43
The West Dalhousie fire may have left a blackened landscape, but it also opened a window for action, recovery and renewal, from salvage harvesting to replanting. There's a chance to create new forests, support landowners and reduce future fire risk. As Steven said, the biggest tragedy would be letting the resource go to waste. But by acting quickly and thoughtfully, we can ensure these forests continue to provide for the people in the communities that depend on them. It's a reminder that even in the aftermath of fire, there's hope, pride and a path forward.
Todd Burgess 14:29
If you're listening to the podcast, I'd like to thank you for tuning in. We would love for you to subscribe, like and share it with people that maybe you know, or other people in the sector. If you want to learn more about forest Nova Scotia, the organization that I work for, you can go to forest ns.ca that's our website. You can click on there listen to our podcast and find out more information about forestry and the forest sector in Nova Scotia. You.