Hikers should plan for possible Kananaskis fires, says forestry expert

As a wildfire continues to burn west of Calgary, a fire expert is recommending hikers and campers consider fire risk before heading out.

A 60-hectare wildfireis burning inKananaskis Country, located 60 kilometres west of Calgary city limits. Firefighters are currentlyholding the blaze.

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Ed Johnson, a bioscienceprofessorat theUniversityof Calgary, understands forestry and forest fire risk, and headed upthe school's research institute inK-Country.

The last major fire inK-Countrywas in 1936, he said, andexperts calculate that major fires happen on averageonce every 150 years inthe area.

He recommends park officials and visitorsshould keep fire safetytop ofmind this summer.

"There is only one road in and out," Johnson told the Calgary Eyeopener on Tuesday. "We knowfrom the flood, for example, several years ago, we had people trapped ... who had to be helicoptered out."

Johnson spoke withhost David Grayabout what fire potentialin theKananaskisarea.

Q: An older forest more likely to burn. Does it need to burn, and hasKananaskisCountry been doing controlled burns in order to keep up the fire succession in that part of the park?

A:They've been doing some prescribed burns, but mostly in order to improve wildlife habitat and that sort of thing.

When you say 150-year return time, when you get closer to the 150 mark, people say, "oh my, it's inevitable."It's not, the probability stays the same year after year.

Q: Let's focus on that Highway 40 corridor, because there has always been a concern with the campgrounds down in that area and in that valley, that if it goes, it's really going to go big.

Is it time for a fire in that area? Do we need to be concerned thatfire could happen inK-Countrythat could significantly change life in that valley for generations to come?

A:The answer, of course, is yes.Fires are a natural part of this landscape, so there will be a fire sometime in the future. The question is, is the forest older and therefore more susceptible to wildfire?

And I can make of kind ofdefinitivestatement, and the answer is no, and that's because fires spread using fine fuels. They don't burn the big logs and things like that.

Q: I think I asked the question because we all still haveWatertonfresh in our minds from last year. Is there a sense that that is aninevitabilityinKananaskis?Is it something we need to be preparing for?

A:Yes.Fires are a natural part, they're lightning-caused and the forest expects these, so to speak, because many of the trees depend on them to reproduce.

And yes, we have to prepare ourselves for that. And the province and forest services in Alberta spend quite a lot of time on people, telling them if they have houses and or buildings how to fire proof those so that they can better survive the fires.

Of course, the other part of that is that inKananaskis,there are large numbers of people hiking and walking around.

I always say, besides carrying your bear spray, have a concern about whether or not there could be a fire and how you would get out or get to some place that was safe.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

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With files from the Calgary Eyeopener.