It’s not often the response to a remote wildfire in Northern B.C. leads to several policy changes.
However, a Swiss-Canadian film maker is showcasing his award-winning documentary Fire In our Hearts in Vanderhoof later this month with five screenings to held at the Grand Reo Theatres.
Eight years ago, severe wildfires threatened Southside residents near Burns Lake, which led to a severe breakdown of trust between local residents and the BC Wildfire Service.
The dispute centered around government evacuation mandates, red tape, and the rejection of outside firefighting resources.
Josias Tschanz began filming in 2018 while visiting family and has been a big hit across the globe.
“What made it so special is that it won awards outside of Canada. In the United States it just the Best Environment Film Award but it also got accolades in India, United Kingdom, Greece and The Emirates.”
“I always felt like it was home and that is where I picked up belonging there. When the community got fire in 2018 and things got pretty wild, with the ferry being blocked by the RCMP – it caused a lot of headlines and allowed me to grab my camera and be smuggled through the toxic smoke and document what was going on along the other side.”
Confronted by the massive Nadina and Verdun Mountain fires, around 100 fiercely independent “Southsiders” refused to leave their homes. They chose to stay behind to fight the fires themselves, building their own fireguards and utilizing local heavy machinery.
To enforce the evacuation, the province regulated and restricted the Francois Lake ferry—the only vehicle link to the Southside. This cut off evacuation holdouts from receiving essential supplies like food and fuel. In one major incident, a fuel truck organized by the Cheslatta Carrier Nation was initially blocked from boarding.
In addition, the tension boiled over on August 25, 2018, when out-of-province private contractors from Alberta arrived with a specialized, high-capacity water delivery system.
The BC Wildfire Service turned the equipment away, stating the local terrain was too rugged and the water sources were insufficient for it to operate.
Tschanz believes rural communities like theirs can be part of the solution as danger approaches.
“I wanted to showcase that smaller, remote communities have a lot of resources and we can be part of the plan rather than be alienated or punished for protecting our homes when there is no help.”
“I think there needs to be more communication and cross-training so that BC Wildfire can involve smaller communities that can’t give resources or help when there are fires. That is something that will require different policies.”
- The New Policy: BC fire governance underwent a structural shift toward shared stewardship. First Nations emergency services now co-manage forecasting, evacuation pre-planning, and decision-making power right alongside provincial authorities.
- Indigenous traditional knowledge, specifically cultural and prescribed burning, was integrated into provincial policy to proactively clear forest fuels before fire season begins.
In addition, a Community Resiliency Investment Program was established where the province floods hundreds of millions of dollars directly to local governments and First Nations to execute localized FireSmart mitigation.
Instead of relying entirely on out-of-town crews, funds are used to clear dangerous forest debris, establish localized water storage, and cut fuel breaks around individual rural communities before a fire strikes.
The 2018 Nadina and Verdun Mountain fires permanently changed how B.C. views logging and forest ecosystems near Burns Lake.
As a result, the provincial government launched the Lakes Resiliency Forest Landscape Plan (FLP) specifically for the Burns Lake and Lakes District area.
The policy overrode old logging practices, pivoting forestry mandates toward creating intentional, man-made fire breaks and modifying tree harvesting to prevent massive fire complexes from linking together.
Lastly, the widely criticized blockade of the Francois Lake ferry forced a rewrite of emergency logistics.
Modern evacuation management policy requires provincial authorities to run collaborative “tabletop exercises” with municipal leaders and First Nations.
This ensures that even if an area is ordered to evacuate, critical communication networks remain open, and safety corridors are pre-planned to avoid trapping residents or blocking incoming emergency.
During the 2018 fires, Rio Tinto donated $100,000 to the Burns Lake and District Community Foundation and an additional $20,000 directly to the Cheslatta Carrier Nation’s emergency relief efforts.
In 2019 and 2020, Rio Tinto provided a $98,000 grant to the Indigenous band specifically to buy localized firefighting infrastructure.
The money purchased eight community wildfire equipment trailers and one industrial trailer placed strategically across the widespread Southside region so residents wouldn’t be left entirely stranded without initial response tools.
The film screenings are slated for October 23rd, 24th, 27th, 28th and 29th at 7pm.
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