This is where cold hard facts give way to the hottest of takes, mostly mine I suppose. I’m the editor, Marshall Jones.

Want to include yours? Listen, this isn’t the comment section, this isn’t social media. Discussion and debate requires context and a wee bit of bravery — we need your name and where you’re writing from. Include it in your account or email me anytime.

Not sure where you are, but where I am, there’s calm.

Smoke is gone and it seems like the emergencies are over but we’ve all been through this before. We’re all just waiting for the wind and what it brings.

We still have at least a month of this.

Until then, I’ve been thinking a lot about the wildfire alerts I got on my phone when fires near me kicked off. This was the first time I got one and it was several.

They were effective, mostly. They woke me up and told me what’s going on.

I took real comfort in getting that alert. By that I mean, I could sleep with some trust I will be alerted to danger. That Summerland fire was worrisome because there wasn’t the usual wind to foretell the pace of emergency.

Rank 6 without significant wind. What do you even do about that?

Anyway, I want to be able to rely on these alerts. That means trusting government to not mess it up, which is always a tall order. And they kind of already have. Credibility and reliability are crucial with this.

We are trying to find more information about how these systems are set up, protocols, thresholds, who has access and ability. This might be the most important and basic thing a government can do if can avoid the temptation to misuse it.

How did the alerts work for you? I’d love to hear your take, email me at mjones@infonews.ca.

Marshall Jones

Managing Editor

If you’ve ever built a fire or sat around one, you know instinctively that a bunch of stagnant smoke means the fire isn’t burning well.

In your fire pit, that means something wrong, you need more oxygen. With wildfires, it’s a good sign. The smoke helps choke it down even further, giving crews a chance to plan ahead.

From where I sit this morning in West Kelowna, skies are pretty clear.

I don’t even know what to wish for anymore.

I’ve been clenched for weeks and my mind can’t stop working to solve these problems. Ha ha.

We’re focused on the immediate threats but I sure wish we were capable as a province of object permanence.

Every year, we all talk about the fire season, how many homes lost, how many hectares. Where does it rank against other devastating years? Did we beat last year?

Climate change is here. It’s adapt or die. There will be a fire season next year and the year after. This isn’t going away.

How about instead, we stay focused past September, find some actual solutions. Maybe cut down or burn a few of the millions of trees surrounding our communities.

I don’t understand what we’re waiting for but apparently it isn’t burned homes, evacuations and even a growing death toll.

Crossing our fingers and hoping for the best hasn’t been working out too well.

That’s my thoughts, I would love to know yours. Email me at mjones@infonews.ca.

Marshall Jones

Managing Editor

The fire season we all suspected was coming has arrived.

In Summerland, a person died trying to escape a Rank 6 wildfire. If you know your fire stuff — and at this point, who doesn’t — Rank 6 is terrifying, starts its own fires ahead of itself.

Many homes have been lost in or near Summerland; it’s astonishing that so many cleared out so fast.

Folks, I don’t have to tell you, it’s dry out there. It’s barely the second week of August. BC has declared a state of emergency and I see some folks calling for a backcountry ban.

I don’t know if it’s because I’m still in shock at how quickly the Bald Range fire grew, my worries about my own home or if I just really want a pause on the smoke and danger — but I’m inclined to agree. Not strongly, though.

It didn’t go over well in Nova Scotia last year, and I kind of get it. We’re all in this together, the careless along with the amazing people fighting these fires and keeping us safe. It feels wrong to give up now on a basic liberty, but at the same time I think we can’t keep doing the same thing every year to get the same result.

Am I letting my worries get to me? Email me at mjones@infonews.ca.

Marshall Jones

Managing Editor

iN DISCUSSION

Migrant farm workers ‘scattered’ as Summerland wildfire displaces thousands

Absolutely! We rely on these workers. They need to be taken care of and allowed to take other similar jobs in the area under these circumstances.

— Bonnie Derry via iNFOnews.ca

Off-road vehicles banned from Southern Interior backcountry

And if fires are started on private land from vehicles used for recreation, maybe the property owners should pay for the clean up.

— Bonnie Derry via iNFOnews.ca

iN RESPONSE to Monday’s opinion-editorial asking if it’s time for a backcountry recreation ban

We are so far beyond figuring out better ways to deal with wildfires. Global warming is coming in waaaay faster than scientists first predicted, and since most haven’t been taking it seriously, it’s become inevitable.
Not wanting to be a Negative Nelly but rather a realist. Humans can’t change what’s more powerful than we are (and that’s NATURE, not a human-made god); Band-Aids and sticking our heads in the sand are no longer a solution.

— Karen Klein

Letter to the editor re: wildfire coverage on the radio

I am writing concerning the lack of live radio coverage of the Peachland and Summerland fires this weekend.

I will start by realizing you may choose not to publish this since you are also part of the local media, but I am sending regardless because I find the situation so unbelievable.

Radio is the first-place people go in an emergency. I understand most everyone has an iPhone and a computer, but when you get a zero-notice evacuation order, you don’t have time to go online to try and find information. You turn on the radio. It’s what we’ve always done in these situations. When you jump in your car with no notice and a very confusing understanding of where to go, you turn on the radio. It’s the live immediate way to get information and instructions. Or it is supposed to be.

Instead on Friday night and through Saturday as these fires were threatening to burn down Peachland and Summerland, instead of any information about evacuation centre locations, how to get assistance, where to go for shelter, all we got was music and senseless banter on every FM station and worse yet, on AM1150 our local NEWS station, all we got was pre-taped repeat talk shows from Toronto, shows about food and wine encouraging people to visit the south Okanagan and football and baseball games. Eventually there were some short news updates but even those sounded pre-recorded and presenting dated information.

In the past, most local radio stations and certainly the NEWS station would have been live interviewing officials, taking listener phone calls that help spread information, and just generally keeping us informed. There was none of that Friday night or Saturday. I am not a CBC listener, but my neighbour encouraged me to try them and to their credit they had live people on with interviews of mayors, MLAs and evacuees. I’m not sure CBC would be anyone’s first thought to try but they came through where local radio dropped the ball entirely.

On top of this, we no longer have Global Okanagan. I drove by their building on Leon and there is a For Sale sign in the front window so I guess they have left town too.

How does the third largest city in BC and the most important regional centre in the Interior not have any degree of live, local radio or TV anymore? It’s really a disgrace. I guess we are forced to use our phones unsafely in the car to get emergency updates from Castanet, KelownaNow, InfoNews and Facebook.

Even on Monday morning, much of the 1150 morning show was generic interviews about everything other than the fires. The crazy thing was the best coverage came from 9-10:30am when Mike Smith from Vancouver took over with this show. He had evacuees, mayors, politicians, local authorities all on air with the best coverage of all and he’s in Vancouver!

I encourage you to fact check my experience here. I am not making this up and hope that by sharing my experience maybe we can get back some of the local media we used to have. They are a vital community service but not if they don’t do their jobs.

— Sincerely, Beth Vanderbea, Peachland via email

Why information officer kept camera rolling even as he fled B.C. wildfire with family

Goodness, when our forests are a dire risk from human caused fires – catalytic converters, ATV motors, cigarette butts, illegal campfires, etc – and we suffer the extremely high costs from wildfires , financial, emotional, and physical, it is not reasonable to suggest that a ban should not be in place.

If humans insist on going out into sensitive, dry areas and put us all in danger without considering those dangers, then they need a ban. BC needs a total ban. We are in a state of emergency.

It is not about people’s individual sense of entitlement and desire to play with matches if Mommy tells them they shouldn’t.

It is about the safety of all residents, continuation of biodiversity, and health of the economy, including agriculture and food sustainability.

— Lori Goldman, Penticton via email

Disclaimer: Any views, thoughts, and opinions expressed on this page are solely those of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of the editor, iNFOnews.ca, iNFOTEL MULTIMEDIA, its partners, principals or advertisers.