WILDFIRE INTERFACE AND PREVENTION (2022)

The communities in the Province of British Columbia continue to experience catastrophic wildfire events. Just last summer we witnessed one of the worst wildfires impacts imaginable, the complete devastation of a community in just a few short hours. Lytton wasn’t the only catastrophic event, as the summer of 2021 carried on, it became clear to us that the condition of our crown and private forested lands are placing British Columbia communities and citizens (and therefore our economies) at unacceptable levels of risk.

The lifeblood of our Province is its people and our towns, First nation’s communities, and villages. The province’s forest resource acts as a key economic driver in this province and serves as the boundary to the majority of our province’s communities. It is no large leap to recognize that these statements have collided with one another in recent years, and we can confidently say that the management of these forests is putting our homes, businesses, and communities at an unacceptable level of risk.

Background

According to the publication by the Public Safety and Solicitor General in February of 2022, Protecting people, communities from climate-related disasters, $145 million will be allocated over 3 years to strengthening B.C.’s emergency management and wildfire service. The plan includes transforming the BC Wildfire Service into a year-round firefighting and risk mitigation workforce adding equipment and capacity. The province has clearly taken a proactive approach to wildfire response and prevention, adding another $98 million for wildfire prevention work including maintaining road access to support future wildfire response. In addition to these funds, the provincial budget also outlines an additional $90 million for community grants to support Firesmart initiatives and fuel management activities.

We are aware that many communities are doing what they can to protect themselves through Firesmart and landscape treatment, there are also several small Wildfire Risk Reduction projects happening with the help of our Ministry staff, and this increased availability of granting for Firesmart initiatives will allow more communities to participate in the program, however without more vigorous and collaborative efforts being led by the province, we will continue to lose ground. Without long term, sustainable for these initiatives, as well as a focus on a collaborative approach between communities, the current scale of support remains inadequate.

One such example of effective collaboration can be found in the Kootenays. During the 2017 wildfire, the collaborative efforts of the Aq’am community on the St Mary’s Rriver, the Cranbrook Fire Department, BC Wildfire Service, and the Regional District of East Kootenay, greatly minimized the damaging effects of a wildfire that had moved swiftly thought he area which was in close proximity to the international airport. The quick response times and ability if these groups to work together saved a great deal of residential infrastructure and surrounding lands from being devastated, while also preventing the fire from moving towards the airport. Since 2003, communities in the East Kootenays have worked to come together in emergency situations, leveraging strength in numbers. This is a principal that if applied province wide could see much success.

If we are to reduce the risk to an acceptable level, to protect our communities, and prevent interruption to the businesses that the province relies on, we cannot continue to apply the same principle of forest management that led us to our present situation. Although we have a long-standing system of forest tenures in and around communities, the unwillingness to drastically change forest management practices in the inface and intermix zones limits everyone form making meaningful change to the protection of our homes.

When the problems our province faces are on such a scale that entire communities are being lost, we need to start thinking outside the box. We need to see consistent guidance and stronger leadership from our provincial government on wildfire prevention strategies. Different landscapes will require different approaches, and the scale of treatment must be equal to the scale of the risk. We must accept that the solution is going to span governments, both in jurisdiction and time.

We currently have the research and the expertise to guide more effective wildfire management and prevention, it needs to be scaled up at the provincial level so that we can protect communities at risk.

Provincially organized programs such as Firesmart, Wildfire Risk Reduction (WRR), Community Resilience Initiative (CRI) are just three that have the right ideas driving them but are operating at a scale that is inefficacious. More robust funding from the province for these programs would drastically increase their effectiveness. Although more funding has been made available for Firesmart initiatives, increased support for WRR and CRI are still needed.

We understand the mechanisms needed for successful wildfire prevention, however, to achieve success, we need our provincial government to scale up the work and ensure that it is comprehensive in its goal to protect. We have heard a lot about bringing prescribed fire back to the landscape. In conjunction with fuel reduction, fibre utilization initiatives, changes in forest practices in the interface and intermix, and support for industry to transition to value added practices we will see changes in the risk that our communities are facing.

The following two recommendations from the BC Flood and Fire Review, Addressing the New Normal: 21st Century Disaster Management in British Columbia Report and findings of the BC Flood and Wildfire Review: an independent review examining the 2017 flood and wildfire seasons, written by George Abbot and Chief Maureen Chapman who were appointed to review BC’s response to wildfire and flood disasters in 2017.

Recommendation 18

Develop strategic partnerships and operational agreements with key community members, forest professionals, First Nations, tenure holders (forest, range, guide outfitters and others), as suitable to provide increased response capacity and promote resilience across the land base. As part of this arrangement, BC should consider training and registering partners.

Rationale — The contribution of land-based partners must be formalized, regularized, and enabled by a consistent approach to training and registration so incident management teams and on-the-ground partners understand what each can deliver.

Recommendation 29

BC enhance integration across government and among governments, particularly in the natural resource sector and within Emergency Management BC, to:

• Foster better collaboration among land-based decision makers

• Promote joint forest/grassland management and wildfire preparedness.

Rationale — Enhancing integration between and among government departments and branches could include training, information-sharing, integrated land use management planning and zoning to facilitate fuel management planning.

Based on the information in the Abbot Chapman report and in keeping with its recommendations;

THE CHAMBER RECOMMENDS

That the Provincial Government:

1. Allocate financial resources to BC Wildfire Service for sufficient staffing to create permanent positions that strictly focus on protection of communities through long-term maintenance of interface and intermix forest areas.
2. Immediately scale-up ability to offer long-term support to Wildfire Risk Reduction, prescribed (cultural) burning practices and value-added forest practices aimed at increasing the value of the interface an intermix timber supply.
3. Undertake al review of the effectiveness of the recommendations, and implementation of government responses, of the 2018 Abbot Chapman report.

Resources:

1. Abbot and Chapman, April 2018. Addressing the New Normal: 21st Century Disaster Management in British Columbia Report and findings of the BC Flood and Wildfire Review: an independent review examining the 2017 flood and wildfire seasons
2. Public Safety and Solicitor General, February 2022.Protecting people, communities from climate-related disasters