A day after the first wildfire of the season popped up, and was quickly knocked down, near Kamloops B.C.’s Forests minister was in town to address the fire season to come.
Doug Donaldson says ten million dollars will be spent to develop a new strategy for prescribed burns to better mitigate wildfires.
And that’s not all.
“Delivering over 40 wildfire training sessions for fire departments throughout B.C. to be led by structure protection specialists. Developing a predictive services section at the BC Wildfire Service that will use the best available science, technology, and human expertise to assess fire weather and fire behaviour.”
On top of more training initiatives Donaldson says they will add more firefighters and equipment.
“Increasing our response capability by adding more fire crews and by supporting training initiatives for additional type two and type three contract firefighters. Enhancing the integration of helicopters and fixed wing aircraft to maximize efficiency and increasing the operating periods of aircraft so they are available earlier in the season.”
Donaldson says after the 2017 wildfire season and subsequent Abbott-Chapman report it was clear better work needed to be done with First Nations communities
“We are also partnering with the First Nations Emergency Society of B.C. and Indigenous Services Canada to deliver training required for type three and tyle two firefighting crews in First Nations communities around the province. We are also developing a First Nations firefighter recruitment strategy.”
He says they will also employ drones to help with fire-mapping, try out night vision goggles for firefighters, and use other technologies to improve fire response and fire fighting capabilities.