Brian Lee
At a recent Area A all candidates meeting, one of the questions posed to the director hopefuls was the following:
“Outdoor burning in the spring and the fall sems to be a ritual. It is toxic to the environment and unnecessary. It is mostly organic which decomposes in a healthy manner. Is the candidate interested to explore and promote a ban on unnecessary outdoor burning?”
While I would argue that “toxic” and “unnecessary” are both inaccurate and a stump will remain long after whoever posed the question decomposes, different answers came from the candidates and not one got it right.
One said the SCRD is responsible for burning bylaws while another said it was a provincial matter. Another avoided the details of a “ban” but rightly pointed out that it’s expensive to chip wood waste. Not one mentioned that the regulating agency for burning in Pender Harbour is the P. H. Fire Protection District.
Of the six volunteer fire departments on the Coast, only two are not under the umbrella of the SCRD — Pender Harbour and Sechelt. The PHFPD enforces campfire bans and permitting for category 3 (machine-piled) fires but it is also the main reason strict burning bans seen elsewhere haven’t landed here.
In the May 2017 issue of the Harbour Spiel, I interviewed members of the PHFPD for a story about its 50th anniversary.
“If we don’t allow some open burning, then there’s no way to get rid of the stuff and we’re still developing land here,” said Barrie Wilbee, chair of the PHFPD.
“I understand the issues of the clean air society people but we’re not Roberts Creek.”
Like other burning authorities, the PHFPD issues “fire safety” permits for the burning of land clearing debris “subject to compliance with provincial smoke control regulations.” Members of the PHFPD will tell you that they don’t want to be the smoke police — the burning of toxic materials is a provincial matter and the Conservation Officer Service is tasked with the enforcement of BC’s Environmental Management Act. Among other restrictions, all category 2 fires (larger than a campfire but less than two metres high by three metres wide) and category 3 fires can only be lit when the ventilation index is listed as “good” on the day the fire is lit and at least “fair” on the subsequent day.
Most can handle a little smoke wafting through their neighbourhood and the assertion that we should truck all wood waste to a distant facility is ludicrous. Aside from the cost and diesel exhaust, being able to have a fire is one of the advantages of living in the country and a personal freedom too valuable to squander lightly.
The Harbour Spiel office sits on an acreage with hundreds of dead cedar trees that would go up like gasoline if there was a wildfire.
Aside from using a helicopter, there is no practical way to dispose of them other than by fire. Even for smaller parcels, the work required to move material to the road in order to chip and transport it is out of reach for many homeowners.
Yes, we must look for green solutions to disposing of waste, but let’s not make ashes of ourselves.