The City of Kamloops will be able to more than double its fire mitigation efforts because of provincial funding.

The province is giving the city $418,205 over three years for fuel management projects.

Parks and sustainability manager Jeff Putnam says that work will happen in interface areas.

“Examples of that would be Pineview, Dufferin, Aberdeen, Rose Hill, Juniper, pretty much all of the outskirts of Kamloops. So it allows to get out there with crews to identify and reduce the risk to life, property and environmental losses, directly or indirectly related to wildfire.”

Putnam tells NL News the city already budgets $100,000 per year for fire mitigation, and the extra dollars will more than double what the city can do for the next three years.

The money from the province is part of $9 million for fire mitigation projects and planning being given to 89 communities, including the City of Merritt ($116,000), the District of Clearwater ($181,000), the Upper Nicola Band ($55,000), the Little Shuswap Lake Indian Band ($147,314) and the Lytton First Nation ($17,425).