Whereas rural and municipal fire departments provide essential structural and wildfire mitigation services and are regularly called upon by the BC Wildfire Service to respond to wildfires in and around their response area; And whereas the BC Wildfire Service relies on the support of rural and municipal fire departments to provide an effective wildfire response program, the Province of British Columbia benefits from having these additional resources available, and many communities struggle to pay for the infrastructure and equipment essential for the existence and operation of the fire department; yet the Province of British Columbia does not contribute towards this vital infrastructure and equipment; Therefore be it resolved that the Province of British Columbia be requested to develop an efficient and effective program to provide capital funding for rural and municipal fire departments.
Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General The Province recognizes and appreciates the challenges that small municipalities and rural communities within regional districts face in delivering fire and rescue services, especially beyond their established service areas and in assisting the BC Wildfire Service BCWS. Emergency Management BC, the Office of the Fire Commissioner OFC and BCWS continue to work collaboratively with the UBCM and the Fire Chiefs Association of BC FCABC on a variety of funding initiatives that can assist fire departments that have less resources. BCWS currently provides subsidized structural protection training courses for local authority fire departments, and is working with the OFC to develop a long-term plan for provision of this training. The FCABC is currently helping to administer 5 million in grant funding to assist local authority fire departments. This is being done in 2019 in two phases: Phase 1 will be provided to fire departments in communities that were affected by the wildfires in 2017. Phase 2 will see any remaining funds from this program made available to other departments across British Columbia. On May 10, 2019 the Province provided 5 million to the UBCM Community Emergency Preparedness Fund to develop a stream of funding for volunteer and composite fire departments to facilitate the delivery of firefighter training and to purchase new or replacement equipment. The CEPF closed to applications in November 2018; over 185 applications were made. These applications have been assessed and applicants will learn of their status in the coming weeks.