The Cariboo Regional District hopes to hire a full-time fire smart coordinator.
At its regular meeting Thursday, Sept. 28, the board approved a grant application for up to $312,700 from the FireSmart Community Funding and Supports Stream, which is part of the Union of BC Municipalities Community Resiliency Investment Fund.
If successful, the funding will go toward hiring the full-time fire smart coordinator, but it would also be used to establish a community wildfire resiliency committee for the whole region, do fire smart activities within the South Cariboo community wildfire protection plan area and provide an education program throughout the entire region.
Area G (Lac La Hache, 108 Mile Ranch) director Al Richmond said there is a big need for public education.
“We need to get on top of this. I think with the lack of fires in the Cariboo this year generally, people are becoming complacent.”
Stephanie Masun, manager of emergency program services, said the intention of the application is to extend the education component around the region by having meetings in every electoral area.
“That’s the concept I’ve put forward in the application.”
There are things the CRD will have to deliver under the program to be eligible for future funding, she added.
Area F (Horsefly, Likely, 150 Mile House) director Maureen LeBourdais also agreed education is needed.
“We need to keep this up in people’s minds. As we all watched the horrors in the Southern Interior I heard people saying, ‘well at least we are the wet belt of the Cariboo’,” she said. “I kept telling people we are one dry thunderstorm away from the same thing.”
The work done to fire smart areas five and six years ago, is starting to grow back, LeBourdais said.
CRD vice-chair and Area C (Bowron Lake, Barlow Creek, Barkerville) director John Massier agreed, saying he worries wildfire risk reduction isn’t adequate.
“How many record-breaking years have we had since 2017?,” he said. “Wildfires are “ramping up at a much higher rate than community wildfire risk reduction projects are. We need to support every single one we can get.”
Wildfire risk reduction requires ongoing maintenance, he added.
Area E (Esler, Chimney Valley, South Lakeside areas) director Melynda Neufeld said her area has not been touched by wildfires and education is also very important for Area E.
“There is a lot of fire smarting that needs to go on in our area as it is very much overgrown.”
Area D (Commodore Heights, McLeese Lake) Steve Forseth said he supported the application, but said the CRD needs to be careful about tasking staff with writing lots of grant applications.
“It is something we have to mindful of. Staff can apply for 100s of grants and not all of them are we going to get. It’s that equilibrium around how much time do we have staff apply for grants,” he said. “It is something this board needs to have a conversation about.”
READ MORE: Goats in the system: FireSmart appetites at work in Quesnel
READ MORE: FireSmart video for Cariboo communities released on YouTube
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