Whereas the Province of British Columbia continues to experience large, aggressive wildfires and in 2014 experienced the third highest fire season in hectares of land in the Provinces history, costing an estimated 300 million in response; And whereas despite the continuing fire threat, in 2014, the Strategic Wildfire Prevention Initiative Community Wildfire Protection Plan Program restricted the funding program stream to the development or update of a Community Wildfire Protection Plan and will no longer fund operational fuel treatment activities: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM urge the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations to establish, fund and conduct a province-wide wildfire proofing program on public and private interface lands to protect British Columbias residents and infrastructure.
Ministry of Forests, Lands Natural Resource Operations Since 2004, over 78 million has been directed through the Strategic Wildfire Prevention Initiative SWPI to help local governments and First Nations significantly reduce wildfire risks around their communities. This includes the 10 million top-up the Premier announced at the September 2015 UBCM convention and re-iterated as part of Balanced Budget 2016. In September 2015, the provincial government and UBCM launched the 500,000 FireSmart Community Grant Program to encourage more communities to incorporate FireSmart principles and earn official recognition as FireSmart communities. As of December 21, 2015, 288 Community Wildfire Protection Plans have been completed by local governments and First Nations, and another 50 are in progress. Completed fuel treatments and risk reduction efforts covered 79,734 hectares in and around communities that face a significant wildfire risk. Mitigating wildfire risk is a shared responsibility. Local governments have a role to play in implementing FireSmart bylaws for municipal lands in urban interface areas. Likewise, homeowners who live in interface areas can help protect their properties from fire by adopting FireSmart principles.