Canada: 'Not all fires are worth fighting'

Canadian resource managers take several factors into account, including economic and ecological impacts, when deciding whether to extinguish wildfires, or let them die out naturally, reports Vancouver Sun.

“As a matter of fact, fire has some very good ecological effects, (but only) in the correct area at the correct time,” said Lyle Gawalko, head of fire management for the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Resource Operations “I want to preface that because in the wrong areas (fire) is damaging, and community values are (put) at risk,” he added.

When fires are put out, forest diversity is reduced and it makes them more susceptible to pine beetle infestations. Wild fires can be useful to clear dead trees and give way to more broad-leaf trees, Lori Daniels, an assistant professor in forest and conservation science in the University of British Columbia's faculty of forestry explains. He added that "resilience will become more important as climate trends point to more years similar to this year with a summer drought that started sooner and lasted longer than normal."