By Jill Sperling

Premier aims to implement forthcoming wildfire recommendations quickly

Apr 5, 2018 | 3:36 PM

KAMLOOPS — As the wildfire season approaches, and several significant grass fires have already sparked in this region, the premier is addressing the preparations his government is making. 

Following the worst wildfire season on record in British Columbia, the government requested an updated Filmon report, which was first compiled after the wildfires in 2003. 

According to Premier John Horgan, that report is expected to be delivered this month. 

“I’m anxiously awaiting the report,” he said, “but we’re not waiting for the last paragraph and reference and recommendation. Ministers are already working on the learnings that we’ve found from the people, the front-line workers, whether they were in Williams Lake, or out in the Chilcotin, or right here in Kamloops. We’re getting as ready as we can be and hoping that we don’t have horrific floods before we have horrific fires.” 

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Horgan says Emergency Management BC began preparing communities for future wildfires immediately after the state of emergency was lifted in September 2017. 

As he awaits the updated report led by former Liberal cabinet minister George Abbott and First Nations Chief Maureen Chapman, Horgan says he intends to take its recommendations very seriously. 

“I know citizens, and I know as an opposition member, we often call on government to not just put the report on the shelf,” Horgan said. 

“This is the first significant report I will receive as premier of British Columbia, and it is my intention, knowing George as I do, and Maureen as I do, that they will not make frivolous recommendations, they will be pointed, they will be focused, and it is the obligation of government to respond to those in the interest of the broader public and our natural environment, so I intend to implement the recommendations as quickly as I possibly can.”