With fire season arriving earlier and burning longer each year, Whistler is pushing forward with a suite of new wildfire risk mitigation measures—ranging from forest fuel-thinning and emergency planning to updated bylaws and collaborative research.
At the heart of the work is a recognition wildfires are no longer rare events, but a growing threat made worse by climate change.
“We are acutely aware that the wildfire risk is rising in Whistler and it’s the single biggest climate change related risk and vulnerability for all of us here,” said the Resort Municipality of Whistler’s (RMOW) manager of climate and environment Luisa Burhenne at the May 13 council meeting.
The RMOW has treated more than 100 hectares of high-risk forest, representing about one-third of its 2030 target.
New bylaw cracks down on fire risk activities
Council is poised to pass changes to its Fire and Life Safety Bylaw that would require construction and landscaping crews to obtain a Wildfire Exemption Permit any time high-risk work is planned near forested areas—regardless of the time of day—during periods of high or extreme fire danger.
Previously, some activities like grinding, hot works and chainsaw use could continue until 1 p.m. under a “high” rating without a permit. The updated bylaw closes that loophole and responds to new climate patterns, including earlier “crossover” conditions—when temperatures exceed relative humidity, creating extreme fire behaviour risk earlier in the day.
An online application portal will also be launched to simplify the permit process, replacing the paper system currently used.
Mayor Jack Crompton noted limits to construction will increase build times, and industry response is mixed.
“There’s diversity of opinion in the building community, but we’ve been spending a lot of time speaking to them about a number of projects,” he said.
FireSmart program expands across the valley
Meanwhile, the municipality’s FireSmart program is growing fast. In 2024, it supported 24 workdays with neighbourhoods, reached 352 properties with its chipper service, and introduced “FireSmart Credits” to help residents take immediate action following home assessments.
The program also made inroads with Whistler’s youth, announcing plans to integrate wildfire education into local school curriculum in 2025 using new modules developed by FireSmartBC.
One lingering question on residents’ minds is whether installing fire sprinklers is an appropriate response for wildfire preparation. Some companies like Prodigy Fire Solutions are touting rooftop sprinklers as a tool in a suite of responses to help save structures.
Given Whistler’s limited water supply, numerous home sprinkler systems could overdraw water reservoirs in a period of critical need, or they may not work during power outages—a frequent issue during emergencies.
Staff are looking at modelling projections before they can say with certainty home sprinklers won’t compromise water resources, but because the systems are outside of a structure, a permit is not required and the tool is unregulated, making tracking a difficult task.
FireSmart coordinator Steve Ruhl said the question of sprinkler systems is one he gets every day.
“If you can afford to FireSmart your property and home and have a sprinkler system, then great, but if you have to make the choice between one or the other, I would place a far greater reliance on the FireSmarting measures than I would on the sprinkler system,” Ruhl said.
Highway 99, Stonebridge, cemetery next in line for thinning
On the landscape side, Whistler’s fuel-thinning program is set to ramp up this year. After treating Brio and Emerald in 2024, municipal crews and partners will shift their focus in 2025 to Highway 99—Whistler’s main evacuation route—as well as the Stonebridge neighbourhood, the Whistler Cemetery, and Alta Lake Road North.
Crompton told Pique the timeline is intense but critical.
“I’d say it’s a lot of work, and it’s a really aggressive timeline. We received funding from the federal government three years ago that has allowed us to significantly expedite the process of getting our community protected. It’s a lot of work, but it’s critical,” he said.
The fuel-thinning is funded in part through the federal Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund and is a cornerstone of Whistler’s Community Wildfire Resiliency Plan, adopted in 2022.
Monitoring data collected by Frontera Forest Solutions suggests the thinning is working. In treated areas, fire modelling shows reduced flame lengths and fire spread—even though they do create warmer, drier microclimates in treated forests.
Science and culture combine at wildfire workshop
May 6 and 7, many of the researchers behind that data joined municipal staff, Indigenous leaders and community members at the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre for a two-day event: “Wildfire Resilience in Times of Uncertainty.”
The workshop was co-hosted by the Cheakamus Community Forest (CCF) and UBC Okanagan, and brought together forest ecologists, cultural fire practitioners, wildfire officers, and planners from across the province. The event included field tours, academic lightning talks, and a public panel discussion focused on the past, present and future of wildfire risk reduction in Whistler.
Heather Beresford, CCF executive director, said the event was an opportunity for interdisciplinary knowledge sharing, and one of her takeaways was the importance of planning for recovery, not just response.
“We do a lot of planning upfront, but we need to be sure to be thinking about how we recover. We thought about protecting critical infrastructure—hospitals, water and wastewater facilities,” Beresford said, stressing recovery can’t happen without necessities of life.
A key theme of the event was the role of uncertainty in wildfire planning—how social, political and scientific unknowns complicate decisions and demand collaboration.
Sessions explored everything from the experiences of Lil’wat fire responders to the development of WISEC, a mobile wildfire planning app, and the long-term lessons of the 2016 Fort McMurray fire.
Evacuation drills and emergency planning underway
Behind the scenes, emergency preparedness is also intensifying. In 2024, Whistler conducted a full wildfire evacuation drill in the Spring Creek neighbourhood and provided Emergency Operations Centre training to more than 30 municipal staff.
More complex evacuation drills could be on the horizon, thanks to a question from Councillor Cathy Jewett.
“Are there any plans to do this with another neighbourhood with perhaps more complex problems, to overcome multiple entrances and exits and that sort of thing?” she asked at the May 13 meeting.
“In discussion with the senior management team, they decided to run a full exercise like that every two years. So, next spring will be due for the next one,” replied Bob Manson, emergency program coordinator. “I am a big fan of doing complex, challenging exercises, because if you exercise here, you can function much more comfortably, much more safely at an easier level. So, I would be very much interested in running an exercise like that.”
What to do if you spot a wildfire
Wildfire season is already underway in the Sea to Sky, with Squamish experiencing its first small wildfires April 27 and May 4.
To report a wildfire, unattended campfire or open burning violation, call 911 in Whistler (or 1-800-663-5555 or *5555 on a cellphone outside the resort).
Coun. Aurthur De Jong ended council’s discussions on a positive note, stressing he began a political career because of his environmental concerns.
“Climate change research has not changed. It’s not if we’ll see a catastrophic fire. It’s when,” De Jong said. “But my confidence has changed each year. The cumulative work that you’re doing between the FireSmarting and the neighbourhood defensive plans, the additional technology, the evacuation planning, we have momentum now that I haven’t felt before.”
