VIDEO: An up-close look at how ‘danger trees’ pose risks to B.C. firefighters

As if smoke and flames aren’t enough, firefighters also have to watch out for another risk: falling trees.

A video by the B.C. Wildfire Service shows just how dangerous — and unpredictable — this hazard can be for the men and women fighting fires across the province.

The video, which was shot at one of the fires burning in the North Okanagan area, shows cedar trees crashing to the ground in a smoke-filled forest. 

“The trees in the video are cedar, which burn from the inside out, until they fall without warning,” B.C. Wildfire says. “The safety of our workers is our absolute top priority.”

B.C. Wildfire says crews have been pulled off areas of the roughly 35 hectare Devil’s Creek fire because of the threat danger trees present. That fire is located northeast of Mabel Lake. 

Twelve danger tree assessors/danger tree fallers were contracted for the Monashee complex of fires specifically to help mitigate the risk of danger trees to firefighters.

The Monashee Complex includes 27 fires burning near Mabel and Sugar Lakes from an area just south of Highway 6 to Three Valley Gap in the north. B.C. Wildfire says danger trees are one of the biggest hazards crews on this set of fires are facing. 

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