Kamloops staff are starting talks about how it can prepare for the next one, after another disastrous wildfire season in southern B.C.
Councillor Kathy Sinclair brought up the topic at a council committee meeting on Monday morning.
“I had quite a few people contact me and say ‘we need to do what Logan Lake is doing.’ I know we’re doing a lot, I wondered if there are other ideas we could be looking into, as this has become a more urgent matter. And we’re expecting more wildfire seasons unfortunately.”
Director of development services Marvin Kwiatkowski says the city is brainstorming internally right now, with more public information to come.
He says he met last week with Kamloops Fire Rescue chief Steve Robinson to get the ball rolling on those discussions.
“Now that we’re moving into the fall season and winter, we believe it’s very worthwhile to revisit where we’re at. Looking at our plans.”
Kwiatkowski says one idea could be replacing conifer trees with deciduous trees in interface zones.
The city has also bought “interface fire sprinklers” to set up at homes, and is looking to buy more, according to city manager David Trawin.
Mayor Ken Christian has called for the budget to do prescribed burns to be quadrupled. It’s currently at $250,000, which is enough to treat just 35 hectares per year. B.C.’s Forest Minister Katrine Conroy told NL News during the summer the government was considering keeping wildland firefighters employed year-round to do wildfire mitigation during the winter.
Earlier this year, city staff said 74 prescribed burns had been done since 2008, covering 95 hectares. It said another 45 hectares would be treated between four projects by 2022, in Kenna Cartwright Park, above Juniper, in Erin Valley and in Barnhartvale.
Separately, after a Canada Day wildfire and evacuation in Juniper Ridge, the city has prioritized access in and out of that community, with now two gated emergency routes ready to use with a third to be built later this year.
This year, since April 1, more than 867,000 hectares of land have burned across B.C., with about 864,000 hectares burning in an eight-week period between late June and mid August. Those fires have burned down hundreds of structures and killed two people in the Village of Lytton.
