We’re on the brink of a ‘runaway fire age.’ Here’s why. And how to respond. Ed Struzik is a fellow at Queen’s Institute for Energy and Environmental Policy at Queen’s University, author of Firestorm, How Wildfire Will Shape Our Future and a new book on fire that McGill-Queen’s University Press is publishing early next year. SHARES A motorist watches from the Trans-Canada Highway as a wildfire sweeps down a mountain near Lytton, BC, destroying the town on July 1. Photo by Darryl Dyck, the Canadian Press. Five days after wildfire destroyed the town of Lytton in British Columbia killing two people and injuring several others, officials were still trying to account for some residents who were missing. No one apparently saw the fire coming. When they saw smoke, according to Mayor Jan Polderman, it took all of 15 minutes before the whole town was ablaze.