B.C. promises disaster plan in wake of another record-breaking wildfire season
B.C. promises disaster plan in wake of another record-breaking wildfire season
31 October 2018
Published by https://www.thestar.com
CANADA – VANCOUVER—British Columbia’s wildfire season is coming to end after scorching another record-breaking area of land.
“There was 1.35 million hectares of land burned this year as opposed to 1.2 million last year,” said Fire Information Officer Ryan Turcot in a phone interview. “Both years are quite substantially above what would be considered average.”
On Wednesday, the province announced a series of actions currently underway to improve its wildfire response.
Key actions include: supporting Indigenous and local community-led emergency planning; using technology to assess impacts and “starting development” of a new disaster recovery framework to co-ordinate an integrated approach; and building awareness of the mental-health impacts of wildfires.
“The goal is to reduce disaster risk and increase community resiliency in B.C.,” a release noted.
This year, B.C. also expanded its practice of prescribed burns. The plan’s progress updates will be released biannually over the next two years.
