Canadian Biomass • Spring 2025 • Editorial

Every year around springtime, the federal, provincial and municipal governments begin preparing for wildfire season. These days, preparing for the season is more important than ever as the size of the fires has increased significantly in recent years.

According to Natural Resources Canada, the 2023 wildfire season was a historic one. There were 6,623 wildland fires that year, which is less than the average of about 8,000 that normally occur annually. However, these wildfires raged and burned more than 15 million hectares (ha) of Canada’s managed forests – a far greater number than the 2.1 million ha. that burn on average each year. There were more than 230,000 people evacuated due to danger to their health and lives from wildfires in 2023.

The costs related to wildland fire protection have ballooned over the last decade and range between $800 million and $1.4 billion annually. The cost of wildfire suppression has increased approximately $150 million per decade since data began being collected in 1970 (Learn more about it here: https://natural-resources.canada.ca/climate-change/climate-change-impacts-forests/cost-fire-protection#why).

While Canada could be more aggressive in finding ways to prevent wildfires and punish those responsible for human- related incidents (approximately half of all wildfires are caused by people), about 50 per cent are caused by lightning strikes. This means wildfire suppression will always be a significant expense at all levels of government.

But what if we could slow down the spread of some of these massive wildfires by reducing the fuel load on the forest floor? This isn’t a new strategy. A few municipalities in northern B.C. that are located in areas sensitive to wildfires have already started up initiatives where they remove biomass from the forest floor and use it as fuel in district heating systems. When you consider the cost of wildfire suppression and the evacuation of entire towns, government investment in slowing the spread of wildfires through biomass harvesting should be a no-brainer.

Government-funded biomass harvesting and energy initiatives in remote northern regions of the country also have the potential to yield additional benefits to the Canadians who call these places home.

One of the biggest expenses related to living in northern regions of the country is energy costs. If the biomass being collected can be processed into wood pellets (or other useable forms of biomass) for district heating systems, this could lower the overall energy costs for many residents who are currently reliant on more expensive forms of energy, lowering their cost of living. Would this mean the federal and provincial governments stepping in to assist municipalities with the costs related to the biomass harvesting, as well as the design, purchase and installation of district energy systems and other bioheat systems? Absolutely. But if initiatives like this have the potential to slow down wildfires, they are worth considering.