Wildfires impact B.C. agriculture

As wildfires burn across much of southern B.C., some farmers and ranchers have chosen to stay with the property and animals that are their livelihoods, despite evacuation orders.

Tom Davison said he was initially skeptical when his son-in-law purchased firefighting equipment for their orchard following a fire in 2021, thinking the gear would not get much use.

Now he’s grateful for the foresight, after his son and son-in-law stayed behind and trained the hoses on flames that came up to the property’s edge on Aug. 1.

The evacuation order covering the Davison Orchards has since lifted but B.C.’s Ministry of Agriculture says that as of Thursday there were 221 registered agricultural premises in the province under evacuation order due to wildfire activity.