Residents of Keremeos, British Columbia, are outraged after tree branches were trimmed in the Southern Interior community.
Dozens of trees near power lines were trimmed by a FortisBC contractor who provides natural gas and electricity services in the area.
Residents of the village, located about 80 kilometers south of Kelowna, have used social media in recent days to share photos and express their frustration.
A member of a local Facebook group called it “Keremeo’s Chainsaw Massacre 2024” – a description that Chris Mathieson gave in an interview with CBC’s Radio West.
“Many of the trees in the community are literally half gone,” said Mathieson, who runs the Grist Mill and Gardens, a provincial heritage site.
“It’s a massacre. There’s no other way to describe it.”
He said Friday that there are a number of “truly historic” trees on his property that are near power lines, so he is trying to contact FortisBC to prevent them from suffering the same fate. He added that residents had received no advance notice from the natural gas company.
“We care about our community,” Mathieson said. “We care about what our community looks like, and this work is just devastating.”
Gary Toft, senior corporate communications adviser at FortisBC, told CBC News that the work is being done to ensure public safety, as trees that are too close to power lines pose a fire hazard and can cause power outages.
“Safety is FortisBC’s highest priority,” he said.
According to Toft, tree trimming work in Keremeos is ongoing, but there is no specific date for completion yet.
He added that FortisBC works with communities when trees need to be removed, but less often when it comes to tree trimming because that is so commonplace. He said the utility has up to 15 tree trimming crews on duty in 10 different communities at any one time.
Mathieson said he and other residents understand the need to protect infrastructure such as power lines, but he fears that pruning the trees so heavily could lead to “a lot of bushy growth” and cause more problems in the future.
Keremeos Mayor Jason Wiebe declined an interview request from CBC News, but said there would be a comment from the municipality on Monday.
