The Globe and Mail 
            

            Chief forester promising wide review of practices
            Critics call for an independent inquiry into what happened in the 
            fiery woods

            By ROD MICKLEBURGH
            Tuesday, August 26, 2003 - Page A6 


            VANCOUVER -- When the last hot spot from the last blazing tree of 
            British Columbia's most hellish forest fire season on record has 
            been doused, the reckoning will begin.
            What could have been done differently? Could the province have been 
            better prepared? Should municipalities be tempting fate by allowing 
            subdivisions to build to the very edge of untrimmed forests?
            Larry Pedersen, the province's chief forester since 1994, agreed 
            yesterday that a thorough review of what happened in the woods this 
            year is crucial.
            "Once the fires are out, we intend to conduct one of the most 
            significant and thorough reviews we've ever done," Mr. Pedersen 
said.
            "We will examine all of our actions from Day 1. I'm sure we will 
            learn things and benefit."
            But the chief forester's pledge of a sweeping internal review of the 
            province's forest-fire-fighting practices is not good enough for 
            some critics.
            Public policy analyst Kennedy Stewart said an independent inquiry is 
            needed into the summer's unprecedented outbreak of devastating 
            forest fires.
            The assistant professor in Simon Fraser University's public policy 
            program said: "We are talking about a massive disaster here, and 
            it's not over yet. We need to know what caused it, and how much of 
            it might have been avoided. An inquiry doesn't need to be a 
            finger-pointing exercise. It could be constructive. But the 
            important thing is to take it out of the hands of government."
            Many critics note that provincial Auditor-General Wayne Strelioff 
            warned in a comprehensive report in 2001 that B.C. needed to be much 
            better prepared against so-called interface forest fires, which have 
            the potential to sweep into adjacent communities.
            "B.C. has the highest risk of interface fires in Canada because of 
            its climate and topography," Mr. Strelioff said. "[And] the issue is 
            likely to escalate as people continue to move from urban areas to 
            rural ones."
            Prevention programs in high and moderate interface risk areas are 
            inadequate, the Auditor-General found, putting some communities at 
            unnecessarily high risk. He issued dozens of recommendations to ease 
            the danger, such as increasing awareness of the risk and reducing 
            the buildup of forest fuel close to houses.
            "It is only a matter of time before a fire will exceed [the 
            firefighters'] ability to contain it. If action . . . is not taken, 
            there will be significant loss of human life and property."
            Liberal backbencher Kevin Krueger (Kamloops-North Thompson) was 
            among a number of MLAs who berated governments later that year for 
            not moving quickly on the report's recommendations.
            "We better not have another fire where people get hurt because we 
            all fooled around on this issue," he declared.
            Mr. Pedersen said the provincial government took Mr. Strelioff's 
            report seriously. "Only a small number of his recommendations 
            applied to us, and we implemented them."
            However, he acknowledged that more must be done to reduce the threat 
            of interface fires as municipalities expand toward forested land.
            "The risk is mounting, and there is room for a more aggressive 
            program of fuel management close to communities. And communities 
            need to be more aware of the benefits of controlled fires to reduce 
            the buildup of forest fuels."
            The chief forester argued that nothing could have prevented the 
            present rash of forest fires, including the destructive Okanagan 
            fire that destroyed nearly 250 homes in Kelowna.
            "The behaviour of these fires has been absolutely extraordinary. 
            They're right off the scale in terms of behaviour," Mr. Pederson 
            said. "This summer is about drought. It's about high temperatures, 
            and it's about high winds.
            "It's not reasonable to say none of these fires would have occurred 
            if we had been more aggressive in fuel reduction."
            Still, Prof. Stewart said,there are many policy issues that need to 
            be addressed.