In this B.C. town, life goes on under the spectre of a looming wildfire

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Angie Huntley and her daughter, Zoey Pynnaken, were at a public spray park in Sparwood, B.C. on a hot afternoon. The sky was blue, the air was clear. Zoey had just pet a pony in town for an evening circus performance.

Ms. Huntley sat in a lawn chair, reading under the shade of a tree. Zoey tried to acclimate to the cool water streaming from a green metal hoop with googly eyes on top. Four people played pickleball on a court a few metres away.

And behind all of them, just on the other side of some railway tracks and over the Elk River, the forested mountains were on fire.

“In British Columbia, this is our life,” Ms. Huntley said. “Wildfires are just part of living here.”

Roughly half of the 4,000 residents of Sparwood, a town on Highway 3, in the southeast corner of the province, are on evacuation alert. This means they must be prepared to leave their homes on short notice if officials believe the fire is likely to sweep through.

But despite the proximity of the blaze, known as the Lladnar Creek fire, the BC Wildfire Service isn’t aggressively tackling the flames. The steep, rocky terrain and high elevation make it too dangerous for crews on the ground and in the air. Fire suppression tactics could worsen the situation.

And so Sparwood residents carry on, despite the fire burning in their collective backyard.

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Next to the park with the splashpad, firefighting crews camped in a few dozen tents on a soccer pitch. Two helicopters were staged nearby, in the outfield of a baseball diamond.

Zoey waved to a helicopter flying overhead. Thanks to a small amount of rain and favourable winds, the fire had calmed since the previous week, when thick smoke brought an early end to her fifth birthday party at the same park.

Now, whiffs of smoke billow here and there, but flames are not visible during the day. At night, the fire glows but no longer rages and jumps.

“It was scary at first, but then you start living your life,” Ms. Huntley said.

The Lladnar Creek fire has chewed through about 380 hectares since July 21, and is one of 13 “wildfires of note” – those that pose a potential threat to safety or property – in the province. In total, there are 356 active wildfires in B.C., 192 of them out of control, midway through a historically brutal wildfire season. Already this year, 13 million hectares have burned across the country, compared to the 10-year average of 1.7 million.

The fire near Sparwood started at an elevation of 1,776 metres, on a ridgetop west of town, according to BC Wildfire Service information officer Kim Wright. The mountain slopes are so steep that there is no safe way to get firefighters in or out.

When the fire was first discovered, air tankers laid down retardant and helicopters dumped buckets of water, Ms. Wright said. But these techniques have been suspended for a number of reasons, including that working at such high altitudes is risky for pilots.

Also, aerial firefighting relies on ground support. Dumping water from above can wash burning debris downslope, and heavy winds from helicopter rotors can send embers flying and start unintended spot fires. Because ground crews can’t help tamp down those issues, air attacks are of limited use here.

Officials are allowing the fire to move downslope, and at times encouraging that movement with planned burns, so teams can suppress it with heavy equipment in more favourable terrain, Ms. Wright said.

Keaton Barrass and Alyssa George don’t live in Sparwood’s evacuation alert zone, but last week, when the fire was raging, they packed their Ford F-150 pickup truck and a utility trailer with all their most important possessions – among them clothing, guitars, an off-road vehicle, urns filled with the ashes of three of Ms. George’s grandparents, and a fourth container with the ashes of a beloved dog.

“It looked like lava coming down the mountain,” Mr. Barrass said.

They agree with the province’s decision to prioritize the lives of firefighters over the property of residents.

“We understand that safety is most important,” Ms. George said. “If we lose our home, we still have each other.”

Michelle and Johan Malan, who live in Sparwood Heights, a neighbourhood under evacuation alert, were in their yard on a recent afternoon, taking a break from packing. Next to them were stacks of labelled plastic containers.

There was a U-Haul truck in their driveway and a “sold” sign on the lawn. They had lived there for seven years, and the move was long planned. But the fire had affected their itinerary.

“It maybe had an influence on us getting the U-Haul here earlier,” Ms. Malan said.