Dunster Community Forest Society releases wildfire dashboard

By Abigail Popple, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, RMG

The Dunster Community Forest Society, which also manages the Dunster Wildfire Brigade, has released a new wildfire dashboard for Dunster and the surrounding area, spanning through McBride and Cedarside. 

The dashboard – which can be accessed here – will update alongside the BC Wildfire Service dashboard, but also includes links to the Regional District’s emergency alerts and a colour-coded legend showing thermal hotspots, volunteer firefighting boundaries, and local government properties, among other features.

In an interview with The Goat, Dunster Community Forest Society administrator Marie Hyde said she made the dashboard to give residents an interactive database with more information than what the BC Wildfire Service dashboard offers on its own. She has previously made similar maps for the Dunster Community Forest and the nonprofit organization Community Futures using her experience as a geographic information systems analyst, which she says was useful for building the wildfire dashboard.

“BC Wildfire Service, they usually just have a static map… And I thought, why not create an interactive one?” Hyde said. “And as I was looking at layers [data that can be added to geographic information systems], I realized, ‘Oh, there’s thermal satellite imaging that we could add to this.’”

The thermal hotspot layer draws data from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite, a type of satellite NASA uses to collect data on temperature across the globe. That data will allow locals to see hotspots – which could be caused by smaller fires not identified on the BC Wildfire Service dashboard – in real time, Hyde said.

Additionally, the dashboard will allow Dunster Wildfire Brigade members to access information collected in the resident information survey last year. The survey asked residents to name the skills and equipment they’d be willing to contribute in an emergency, as well as basic emergency contact information such as their phone number and the number of people and animals living on their property.

“If we have a fire in a certain area, we [the Brigade] can highlight which properties would be affected and make sure we contact them. That’s where the resident information sheets come in handy,” Hyde said. “The map doesn’t show their phone numbers to keep it private. One of our volunteers will use the map, highlight which properties [are affected], and then cross-reference with our contact list and make the calls.”

The Brigade is not trained to fight structural fires, Hyde emphasized. The dashboard will allow these volunteers to see homes surrounded by forests and stave off approaching fires before they reach buildings, she said.

Alongside creating the dashboard and collecting residents’ information, the Brigade has accessed funding from the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George to purchase firefighting equipment. The Brigade now has enough equipment to outfit one firefighting unit, which includes pumps, hoses, nozzles, and water tanks. All that’s left now is purchasing a trailer, according to Hyde.

The group plans on doing a refresher workshop going over how to use its new equipment some time this spring, Hyde added. They will also host a Community Wildfire Preparedness Day on June 28th using funding from FireSmart BC.

The Brigade is not currently accepting more volunteers, Hyde said – they are keeping the group compact until they gain more experience and feel confident they can build a bigger organization. However, locals can visit the community forest’s website – which has a dedicated section for the fire brigade – for updates, Hyde said.

“The people that we have are sufficient to keep things slim so that we are coherent in what we’re doing,” Hyde said. “Next year, or maybe later this year, we hope to invite people to come be a part of it.”