Forests Minister Katrine Conroy (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Michael Reeve

MINISTER CONROY

Forest Minister clarifies comments on Clearwater wildfire crews

May 13, 2022 | 4:14 PM

KAMLOOPS — British Columbia’s forest minister, Katrine Conroy was in Kamloops today, speaking at the Interior Logging Association annual general meeting.

The minister is responsible for the logging industry but the wildfire service also falls under her purview. With the wildfire season fast approaching, some communities in the region are concerned about fire coverage.

Just a few weeks ago (April 28, 2022) the B.C. Wildfire Service informed CFJC Today that no crews will be based in Clearwater this year.

“We traditionally had crews based there but won’t for this upcoming year,” said Rob Schweitzer, BCWS Director of Fire Centre Operations.

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This morning Minister Conroy stated the following.

“There will be a crew in Clearwater, but the main crew will be based out of Kamloops and has the ability to then send people throughout the province,” stated Conroy. “It’s a regional fire centre in Kamloops, which is great. What we’ve done is considerable investments in the wildfire service so we can expand the wildfire service to a year-round operation.”

The Forest Ministry has since clarified the comment from Conroy providing;

“To clarify, there will be crews present in Clearwater when required.  Crews will forward deploy with a response officer to the Clearwater base as risk levels heighten.”

When the NDP government came into power in 2017, they promised to tackle the softwood lumber deal with our southern neighbours. Now five years later, the minister admitted the work carries on with the United States to get a fair deal.

“Unfortunately, it’s not (moving forward) in a sense. Right now the US doesn’t seem too interested to having those negotiations. Timber prices have been pretty high these past couple years and we are going to continue to push that. We want to get a fair deal for our companies here in B.C. and across Canada,” said Conroy.

*Updated at 5:50 pm Friday, May 13, 2022 to include clarification made by Ministry.