'Tornadoes of fire' in N.W.T. linked to climate change

Climate change is responsible for more frequent and larger forest fires, such as the ones now plaguing the Northwest Territories, says an Edmonton professor.

What we are seeing in the Northwest Territories this year is an indicator of what to expect with climate change, says Mike Flannigan, a professor of Wildland Fire inthe University of Albertas renewable resources department. Expect more fires, larger fires, moreintense fires.

This weekend, the wildfiresleft a 13-kilometre-long scar along the main highway up to Yellowknife, forced an evacuation of a fishing lodge on Great Slave Lakeand had cabin owners fearing for their properties.

According toFlannigan, about 8,000 fires burn about twomillion hectares of land each year in Canada an area about half the size of NovaScotia.

ButFlannigansays twomillion hectares aredouble the average area lost each year in the1970s.

Some attribute that to climate change and Im one of those.

Dave Phillips, a senior climatologist with Environment Canada, say the southern part of the N.W.T. is experiencing the driest conditions in 50 years and warmer temperatures than usual.

Its just almost as if theres no weather around, he says. Weve seen, for example, in the last six weeks, precipitation in Yellowknife is only about 20 per cent of what it should be. Youre just not seeing any rain.

Phillips says apart for a 30 per cent chance of rain Monday night, theres no rain on the horizon for the next two months.

He agrees the conditions are the kind of thing models predicted would happen 40 years from now.

Not enough weather in some areas and too much weather in other areas, he says, pointing to the flooding in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

The one thing that doesnt exist anymore is normal weather: something in between. It is a bit of a downer.

'Tornadoes of fire'

Spencer Decorby has seen it up close.

Last weekend, he and a small group of family and friends took on a fire burning right up to the edge of his fathers cabin about 80 kilometres east of Yellowknife.

There was at times a wallof flame a couple of storeys high, he says. There were literally tornadoes of fire in the treetops and when they were crowning, theyd literally explode in front of us.

Maureen Tongehas a cabin on Reid Lake, where a fire has been burning for weeks.

"Friends of ours that live across the lake, they have a hill behind them and they were able to climb up the hill and actually see smoke and flames from where they are."

Firefighters from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources provided pumps and hoses, but no people. Stretched to the limit, it says cabin owners cant count on the department for help.

Instead, its recommending cabin owners FireSmart their property, by doing things like clearing brush, keeping water handy and moving fuel tanks away from buildings.