BC Wildfire Service to be fully staffed this week as summer preparations continue

Parmar said there were more than 2,400 applicants for the roughly 250 open positions at the BC Wildfire Service this year. BCWS has up to 700 year-round people on staff and when contractors are factored in, Parmar said it’ll mean a contingent of more than 2,000 personnel to fight fires in B.C. this summer.

“It’s important for British Columbians to know we’re going to prepare for the worst and hope for the best,” Parmar said. “I want the BC Wildfire Service members to know how thankful I am for the work they’ve done very early on in the season to put out fires very quickly.”

“Our boot camps are going well, and I continue to be amazed by the number of people who said, ‘We want to be a part of the BC Wildfire Service. We want to run into fires when [everyone else is] running away.'”

Kamloops is home base for the BC Wildfire Service, but Parmar noted crews are deployed to areas where they’ll be the busiest and the most effective. There is a chance they stay close to home as federal monitors list areas of the southern and central Interior as ranging from “abnormally dry” to “severe drought.”

“I don’t want to speak for the folks in the BC Wildfire Service that make those decisions,” Parmar added. “They’ll be taking a look at weather patterns data and best positioning the resources where they believe these should be located.”

As of publishing, there were 30 active fires burning across B.C., and another 33 fires that were extinguished in the last seven days. The BC Wildfire Service notes the severity of this summer’s fire season will depend largely on the amount of precipitation that falls in May and June.

“It’s difficult to predict this early on,” said Fire Information Officer Eliza Balkwill. “Right now, because we haven’t seen that precipitation, fuels are dry and maybe more susceptible to ignition.”

No budgetary inpacts: Parmar

Parmar said the B.C. government has budgeted about $250 million to fight wildfires, with a couple billion available in contingencies. While the province has been cutting costs where it can amid its difficult fiscal scenario, the wildfire service is not expected to be affected.

“We will spend whatever we have to to protect the interests of British Columbians, to protect their communities, to protect people,” Parmar said. “It’s why we have those contingencies in place. I hope we don’t have to use them [but] if we need to spend more than what we have in place, we will.”

He also said B.C. is able to call on partners for help should things get out of hand. Conversely, if the situation here is manageable, there is an option to send crews elsewhere.

“I want all British Columbians to be assured we have partnerships at a global stage and throughout Canada and locally across firefighting departments as well as the forest sector,” Parmar noted.

“We are prepared for the worst, but are hoping for the best.”

by Victor Kaisar

BC Wildfire Service to be fully staffed this week as summer preparations continue

No budgetary inpacts: Parmar

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