Yesterday night's meeting at Straiton Hall was well-attended by Sumas Mountain residents, with 50 people coming out. Also present were 9 officials from various levels of civil government and their agencies. The provincial Ministry of Forests (1 representative), Metro Vancouver parks (2 representatives), Abbotsford Parks (2 representatives), Abbotsford Police (1 representative), Abbotsford Fire (1 representative), and FVRD (2 representatives).

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss forest fire prevention on the Mountain, as well as to discuss "what to do if."

Because of the intensity of BC wildfires this season there was discussion of how to prevent an incident on Sumas Mountain. Residents were unanimous in their request to officials that the park areas be closed to public access.

However it became apparent that none of the officials could identify which of themselves had the authority to make the decision to close the gate. This was no surprise to Sumas Mountain residents, and might have been funny were the issues not serious. Residents repeatedly asked the officials "Will any of you commit to restricting public access to the park areas during heightened fire risk?" No one could provide a clear answer.

It seemed evident to several people that, since the largest landholder on the Mountain is the Crown, therefore it ought to be the Ministry of Forests which takes authority to restrict access. Yet the Ministry representative said it was really BC Wildfire which had the authority, although no one from that agency was in attendance.

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This map of the Mountain was on display.

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This handout from Metro Vancouver parks was distributed.

One local resident with a forestry background mentioned after the meeting that there are insufficient fire-breaks on the Mountain and that there is a desperate need for more logging and tree-cutting to take place, that there is too much fuel (combustible material) accumulating in the woodlands. This is an interesting point, considering the City of Abbotsford tried to eliminate our freedom to cut trees not that long ago.

Other residents pointed out that most forest fires are caused by lightning, and how does one prevent lightning?

Still, because there are more than 200 homes up here on the Mountain, most of which are in direct (or close) proximity to the park areas, it seemed reasonable to most of us that officials should work immediately to prevent public access until the fire risk is reduced. Yet we got no assurances other than that they would all try to work together to shut the one (and only) public-access gate. Doesn't sound like a hard thing to do, but apparently it is. We're hopeful that in the future it won't take so much fuss to get officials to simply close the park access points when things get too dry.