Work must be done, MLA says

Province must step up on interface fire work

By CAROLYN GRANT

Kimberley Daily Bulletin: October 6, 2009

While Kimberley is one of the municipalities in the province that has been on the forefront of interface fire work, MLA Norm Macdonald says the provincial government is not providing enough leadership, meaning funding, for the much needed work to be done.

“In the government’s Throne Speech in February 2004, it was announced that all Filmon’s recommendations would be acted upon, and most of them would be in place for the 2004 fire season,” said Columbia River – Revelstoke MLA and Opposition Forest critic Norm Macdonald.

“And now in 2009, following another terrible summer of wildfire, the Minister of Forest cannot even answer a simple request for a list of communities that are considered ‘at risk’ for wildfire.”

Work in Kimberley has been ongoing for five years, and the City has an interface fire management plan.  That’s more than a lot of communities, Macdonald says.

“Of the 186 communities that have been identified as needing interface work, and 71 have plans in place and only 53 have actually started the work,” he said.  “The province hasn’t taken the lead as promised.”

The Filmon report plainly states that the responsibility for the implementation of wildfire-proofing measures sits with the provincial government, Macdonald says, and the provincial government appeared to accept his recommendations when promises were made in the 2004 Throne Speech.

“I represent communities that sit in the forest, that are supposed to have this fire-proofing work done.  And the public would presume that the work that was promised in the 2004 Throne Speech has been done.

“Instead this government has absolutely failed to implement the Filmon report recommendations and as a result communities across the province are still facing the highest risk from wildfire.  Most residents in my area can look out their kitchen window and see crown land forest that have not been managed to reduce interface fire risk.

“Those areas, if treated, give firefighters a chance to get a line of defense, and the Filmon Report says that investing in interface work is well worth it when you consider the costs of a major fire.  By doing the work you spend less money in the long run.”

Macdonald says that if the government does not intend to properly fund interface work they should say so.

“The government either has to reject the Filmon Report premise that the work is worth it, or accept it and do the work.  At the present time, they’ve said it’s a good idea, but haven’t provided the leadership.