British Columbia is on fire. 5000 square kilometres of forest, brush and grassland have been burning for weeks. So far, here on the island we had been spared. That is, until our own beloved forest at the end of the road was set on fire. Twice.

On the mainland around 130 fires are burning, including 16 new ones that started on Friday. 45,000 people were evacuated in July and they say this is the 2nd worst year recorded for fires in terms of size and that was before forest fire season even ‘officially’ began. August is usually the worst month for fires and this year it will be even worse than worst.

So far, Vancouver Island has been spared any large out of control fires. At times we could see across the tops of the mainland coast mountains a thick band of dark air spread as far as you could see in either direction. After many weeks of fires, this week the smokey air finally spread across the Strait to us as well and we’ve been viewing the sun, which also brought a so-called heat wave, through an enveloping haze. We inhale the smokey air from thousands of miles away. The almost-full moon shines orange.

Qualicum Beach – The mainland has vanished!

One evening around 9:00 a couple of weeks ago we heard the fire truck sirens, wave after wave of them. The sound of bad news. Close. The fire was in our forest. It was burning right along one of the walking paths, along the top of a steep bank along the creek, around the brush of a large tree that fell last winter. Before it was extinguished it had spread through the pile of brush and branches, through a large old stump and up a couple of huge Douglas firs burning the bark on one side to a height of about 20 feet.

Here’s the thing. I can tell you for sure there was no lightning strike that night. We never (never say never) get lightning around here, there were no clouds and we have had 3 days of rain since the beginning of June. No machinery was operating. There was no illegal campfire in that location by the path on a steep bank. A casual flick of a cigarette butt by an ignoramus out for an evening stroll? Meh. I don’t buy it.

Then, last week, 6:30 in the morning, the sirens started up again. This time I went down the road where a few of us watched…well, not much to watch really, from where we were, other than fire water trucks filling up from the hydrant and going in and out of the road through the forest. Fire department vehicles from 3 neighbouring towns had been called in plus the RCMP.

Later that morning I went in to take a look. This time, the bad guys had set a fire way beyond the beaten track, where no righteous citizens walk, at the back of the meadow, through some thick brush. I don’t know how it was discovered or who discovered it and called it in, but once again a larger tragedy was averted.

The heavy smokey air from the mainland descended upon us the next day, which was very unsettling, not really knowing where the smell was coming from – from a thousand miles away or from another fire start in the forest at the end of the road.  But our little drama that ended well pales before what those people in affected areas on the mainland are going through this summer.

I follow the blog of a woman named Chris Czajkowski (Wilderness Dweller: One Woman’s Life in the Wilderness), who for over 30 years has lived in the BC interior, off-grid, building her cabins by herself, hiking miles to the nearest road and all that, and writing 12 books about her life. I’ve devoured them all. Her last half dozen posts have been about being smack in the middle of the fire action. From her house she can see several of the fires burning, watch helicopters flying by with their big buckets to go replenish in the lakes, and has had to evacuate once already and may need to leave again imminently. A great read about what it’s been like and she takes lots of pictures.