British Columbians are Resilient and so are Our Forests

British Columbia is world renowned for our forests. They serve as a global carbon sink, are home to incredible biodiversity, and are a desirable location to hike, camp, and play. But for the past two years, the pristine beauty of our forests have been overshadowed by back to back wildfire seasons.

With over 2,000 fires having burned across the province, summer 2018 marked another difficult wildfire season. People’s lives were disrupted, property damaged, and over 1.3 million hectares of our forests have burned.

However, despite the fact that this year’s wildfire season was one of the worst in B.C. history, not a single human life was lost. This is something I’m very grateful for as are all B.C. Wildfire Service personnel.  Our top priority when addressing wildfires has been, and always will be public safety. Ensuring the safety of our communities, public infrastructure, and those on the front lines shaped the actions taken this summer in our forests.

The wildfires faced by first responders this summer were complex. They were geographically spread across the province, impacting the North, Cariboo, Thompson-Okanagan, Kootenays and the Island. But moreover fires like the ones at Shovel Lake near Fraser Lake, Nadina Lake near Burns Lake, and Verdun Mountain near Grassy Plains all required unprecedented efforts and resources to get under control. Even on Vancouver Island, the Tugwell Creek fire near Sooke, the Nanaimo Lakes fire, and the 94 hectare Gold Valley fire at Zeballos proved challenging to those trying to keep people safe – but they succeeded nonetheless.

My own community of Castlegar was impacted by three nearby fires at Syringa Creek, Deer Creek and Bulldog Mountain. For a time our region reportedly had the worst air quality in the world, forcing kids to spend their summer days cooped up indoors and leaving families in a state of concern. Fortunately, all three of these fires are now under control, in large part thanks to the exemplary staff at the Southeast Fire Centre and the incredible work of both the air and ground crews.

From the Kootenays to the North, British Columbians in fire-affected areas knew we had their backs and that the province was pulling out all the stops to put the fires out and keep their communities safe.

 

 

Coming off of a second difficult wildfire season, New Democrats recognize the need for further investments in wildfire-prone areas. That’s why our government recently announced the new Community Resiliency Investment Program, a program which will provide up to $50 million over the next three years to local governments and First Nations to help reduce wildfire risks around their communities.

We know that wildfires don’t stop at municipal, on-reserve or provincial Crown lands, which is why this new program will take a holistic approach to wildfire risk reduction.

I’m particularly proud that our government collaborated with the First Nations’ Emergency Services Society of B.C. in developing this program as we know that many Indigenous communities can be disproportionately impacted by wildfires. In addressing this summer’s fires, local knowledge shared by Indigenous nations proved to be extremely helpful and in addition to many new techniques like mass water delivery systems, the B.C. Wildfire Service was able to get the situation under control.

I’d like to sincerely thank all the women and men from the BC Wildfire Service, those from outside British Columbia, from municipal fire departments around the province, and from the Canadian Forces who all worked tirelessly and selflessly to protect people and property. I also want to acknowledge the courage and resilience of those who have been impacted by this season’s wildfires, in particular people who were evacuated and those who lost their homes.

On the front lines of the fires, firefighters continually demonstrated unquestioned professionalism through the last two fire seasons. We asked them to keep people safe – and despite facing the two worst fire seasons on record, they have done exactly that. They got the job done.

As we move forward New Democrats will continue to do our part to support communities impacted, repair our forests, and invest in necessary wildfire mitigation. I’m confident that just as our forests are resilient, so too are British Columbians.