36 years reading fire
and reading timber.

Where it starts

Born and raised at Canim Lake. Fighting wildfire since 1990: contract crews first, then the Ministry of Forests. Led the 100 Mile Stormriders from 1994 to 2001.

Thirty-six fire seasons in the same country. That's not a marketing number, it's the reason he can look at a stand of Cariboo pine and tell you which one is going to go and roughly when.

What the day job looks like

He heads Fire Brigade Bravo 100, a Type 3 unit crew. His role on that crew is danger tree assessment and falling: identifying and removing the trees that would otherwise come down on firefighters and equipment. It is, by some distance, the least forgiving falling there is, burned stems, compromised root collars, no lean to read, and people working underneath.

Alongside that: prescribed burning with the Canim Lake Band, including a five to seven hectare burnoff run in a single afternoon during the 2021 Canim Lake fire. Fuel mitigation contracts for the District of 100 Mile House. A danger tree assessment services contract with the BC Ministry of Forests.

And he is certified by the BC Wildfire Service to instruct S-100, the basic fire suppression course that is the minimum ticket to stand on a fire line in this province. Only endorsed instructors are allowed to deliver it. He has taught it to the volunteer fire department at 70 Mile.

Which is the shortest version of the argument on this whole website: the fire department takes the course from him.

The company

New Era Falling & Forestry Ltd. is run with his wife out of the Canim Lake Band area, serving 100 Mile House and the South Cariboo. Fully insured, $5M liability, WorkSafeBC registered. 1,700 people follow the work on Facebook and the reel footage has been watched over half a million times, which suggests the work speaks for itself better than any paragraph here does.

19 reviews on that page. 100% recommend.

How we work

• We look at it first. In person or in photos. Nobody gets a price on a tree we haven't seen.
• The scope goes in writing. What comes down, what stays, where the wood goes, what it costs.
• We'll talk you out of it if you don't need it. Plenty of trees people want gone are fine. We'd rather tell you that and take down the one behind it that isn't.
• We clean up. Agreed in advance, done before we leave.
• We won't top a healthy tree. Ask us why sometime.

“I love the science of it all. The weather, how different kinds of fuel burn, the slopes…” 100 Mile Free Press, 2021