The Fort McMurray Inferno: A Wake-Up Call

With the recent devastation in Jasper, Alberta, we wanted to revisit this episode we recorded back in April with author, John Vaillant, where he explains why wildfires have become more common, and much harder to fight. 

We hope you find it informative, and our hearts go out to all those affected by the current fires. 

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ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES

Today, evacuation alerts for several communities in BC and Alberta are in effect. You may not have noticed, because there are always evacuation alerts in effect now, and there are always fires burning, some of them out of control. When the whole country takes notice is when the skies over entire provinces go dark, the air turns bad or a blaze like the Fort McMurray fire in 2016 blitzes through a city.

All of that will probably happen this year. The conditions are ripe for it, and there's not much we can do to prevent a devastating fire when it comes. But we can evolve our strategies as the fires get bigger. We can adapt. But...will we?

GUEST: John Vaillant, author, Fire Weather: The making of a beast

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