The Fallacy of Air Quality
260103 – The real situation regarding air quality and the ongoing smoke issues in the Okanagan Valley is not being shared. Fire Prevention and Air Quality Bylaws that regulate fires in the electoral areas of RDCO are the problem, not the solution. When these bylaws were created years ago, the primary issues addressed were smoke and air quality. Today we find ourselves in a new reality where wildfire and excessive fuel in our surrounding forests are today’s priority issues. It is all about balancing the two issues, air quality and wildfire that allows us to mitigate the priority issue, which is the excess of fuels on our forest floors, which is causing uncontrollable and unmanageable wildfires within the structurally built-up areas in RDCO and adjacent RD’s.
Allowing more open burning could help meet FireSmart standards while also reducing excess forest fuel. If we change priorities to fuel mitigation rather than air quality, we could address that aspect that reduces our ability to make our forest safer. Currently our bylaws require a good Venting Day which is 55 or greater on the venting index scale to burn. This “good” Venting Day does not take in other weather factors such as wind or rain that affect the ability to burn on any given day. In 2025, there were three good Venting days from October 1 to the end of December. Two of those three days fell during the Christmas holiday, when burning is likely a low priority.
The Venting index is set early each morning, but it can easily drop by 10 a.m., which is when burning is typically advised to begin. If we were to reduce our Venting requirement to fair, which is 34 to 54, it would add a considerable number of good burning days to what is currently an extremely limited list.
Although Venting is the most predominant negative factor of burning, there are other aspects of the bylaws, in particular the fire prevention bylaw that inhibits good FireSmart practices. The requirement to have one hectare or 2.4 acres of land to apply for a permit to mitigate smoke impact on neighbours is an empty argument. Recently forest service conducted category three and four burns in and around Kelowna and West Kelowna on days with Venting index well below the 55 required by everybody else. Smoke from the Knox Mountain fire blanketed the north end of the Okanagan Valley, and we could barely see across the lake due to smoke. This proves that lot size to mitigate smoke is a fool‘s argument, smoke will go where it wants, and when it wants regardless of the rules and regulations.
The Fire Prevention bylaw should also update its ban on fire use when land use changes. In the electoral areas, this means we are taking an undeveloped lot and preparing it for a structure which means the removal of trees. This leaves us with the woody debris generated to develop a lot. Most lots in the North Westside are under an acre and cannot receive burn permits. So, when you have a pile of debris, the size of a car or small house getting rid of that hazard is difficult. In the North Westside you hire a contractor who puts the debris on a truck and drives it 4 km north to the Okanagan Indian Band lands and open burns it there in the same air shed it originated in. That’s not solving a problem that’s just adding an additional cost and administrative interference to development. If we have an inversion at that same time, the smoke will stay in the valley.
How many tourist seasons must we lose before we understand this? in the summer months and with wildfire, Venting is irrelevant and impossible to manage. Once tourists and visitors change their minds and location for their vacation. It will be exceedingly difficult to get them back.
With tourist season and our homes at risk, we should consider changing our approach. Fires spread throughout the winter and spring months are our opportunity to address the fuel mitigation that is the goal of FireSmart.
Good Venting
