I have an avid readership!
And if you are among them, I’d like to direct your attention to the Letters to the Editor. Someone wrote one about my last column. I’m delighted and challenged, and the important thing to remember is that I have “avid fans.” Yes, that’s my takeaway.
However, I do have thoughts about this response and will elaborate on them in my next column. For now, I urge you to consider this counterpoint to my soapboxing on the denigrative effect of unsightly graffiti. Do they have a point? Is my perspective stronger? Who are they, anyway?
Other than individuals of impeccable literary taste, of course.
Again, my thoughts will wait. Imagine how much better the world might be if every debate on Facebook required a two-week waiting period before making a comeback. We might be exposed to far fewer distasteful knee-jerk reactions, or just reactions from jerks, as the case often is.
No, today’s column is about a very niche, yet relevant, topic: what to do if you find yourself with a burning couch in the back of your truck.
This question became particularly relevant to one individual who, just around the corner from Wiggins Point in Tlell, glanced in their rearview mirror to notice smoke and flames. It was early last week, later in the evening, on a day otherwise unremarkable.
So what do you do when you discover a burning couch in the back of your truck? You stop. You get the couch out of your truck. You say goodbye to the couch. If you have the means, you put out the fire. If you don’t, you watch your couch burn safely away from your truck.
And that is exactly what this individual did. Unfortunately, in the haste required in the moment, the couch did not stay on the highway as intended. Instead, it tumbled into the ditch where, characteristic of Tlell, there was a significant amount of driftwood.
Luckily, this individual, who was rapidly learning important life lessons, was able to alert the Tlell Volunteer Firefighters, who responded. They, too, watched the couch burn, ensuring no more of the driftwood caught fire.
And how does this happen, you might ask? How indeed? It appears a flicked cigarette butt blew back into the bed of the truck and into the comfy embrace of the quite flammable couch. It was a careless move.
As this driver learned, improperly discarded cigarettes are still starting a shockingly large number of fires here in B.C.
If you smoke, please put out your butts and deal with them yourself. If you smoke and don’t want to smoke, and you’re chucking cigarette butts out the window in an attempt to prevent your vehicle from smelling like an ashtray, explore the world of smoking cessation prescriptions and other resources. You owe it to yourself and otherwise innocent couches.
Currently, there is a fire ban for all open burning on Haida Gwaii. This is expected to remain in effect until October 2026. For the time being, campfires are permitted if they are less than 0.5 metres high by 0.5 metres wide.
Last year, 43 per cent of forest fires in B.C. were started by human activity. We can do better, humans.
We don’t know exactly how many of those fires were started by cigarette butts, but we can assume it was a lot. Specific statistics for cigarette-caused fires are not available for B.C.
Speaking of stats, did you fill out your census? Did you get a census card? Most Tlellians didn’t get anything delivered to their homes or post office boxes. Requesting an access code online required actually wanting to do your census, so naturally a fair number of Tlellians did just that.
Some of us love to be counted. Some definitely do not.
However, many of us who do were met with the response that our civic address was not found in the system, despite having clear memories of filling out the last census from the exact same address.
It would seem most of Tlell has been erased from the census database.
And when you’re a new thing to a database, it often wants to know more. So some of us got the particular delight of completing the long census. True to its name, it takes a long time. But I was happy to get counted.
Doing the census has a direct effect on how the government decides what services and considerations we need. If they don’t think many people live here, they may direct fewer resources to roads, internet, and other services. Our firefighting services, clearly needed to protect us from burning couches, health services in Daajing Giids, and even how Gwaii Trust allocates community funds all depend on the number of residents reported here in Tlell.
It also gives decision-makers information about important things such as population health, affordability, job markets, and energy consumption. This informs policy and the direction of investment and innovation.
So get counted. They won’t track you down if they don’t know you’re there, so you have to be proactive. To those who do not wish to be “found,” I remind you that you do pay taxes. The census helps ensure those dollars come back to us. It’s not about surveillance, it’s about services.
Disagree? Write to the Editor!
And that’s the Tlellian News.