Image credit: CFJC Today

By Marty Hastings

FIGHTING FIRES

B.C. Minister of Forests Parmar says province sending wildfire-fighting support to California, expects Team Canada approach

Jan 10, 2025 | 3:46 PM

KAMLOOPS — B.C. Minister of Forests Ravi Parmar said the province is providing help to the state of California and the hundreds of thousands impacted by wildfires raging in the Los Angeles County area.

“During our most difficult times in British Columbia, when we needed help, California Wildfire was there for us and so it’s no different in this sort of situation, where when California needs our help, of course, British Columbians are going to be there,” Parmar said.

About a dozen incident management team personnel are expected to deploy from B.C. over the next couple of days and conversations are underway that are likely to spur the deployment of about 20 ground personnel, according to the minister.

Parmar said the incident management teams are highly trained at providing logistical, operational and aviation support.

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“Of course, we’re engaging with the federal government, as well, to ensure there is a Team Canada approach, and looking at Alberta, Quebec and Ontario also providing a very similar type of support to what B.C. is providing,” Parmar said.

“We’re doing a lot of work internally to make sure by providing these resources, we’re also protecting ourselves here in B.C. as we prepare for the 2025 wildfire season. The people who I talk to on the ground are proud the BC Wildfire Service has stepped up.”

Four major wildfires are raging across Los Angeles County and at least 11 people have died, according to CNN, which notes more than 100,000 people are under evacuation orders and tens of thousands more are under evacuation warnings.

Entire neighbourhoods and more than 10,000 properties have been destroyed.

Parmar is in Fort St. James on a tour that includes stops in Terrace, Smithers, Vanderhoof, Houston, Fraser Lake and Burns Lake, communities in which he is speaking to leaders about the impact of wildfires.

“I was literally in a board room yesterday with my acting deputy minister and he had to step out because he started getting calls from California Wildfire and conversations unfolded soon after that,” Parmar said.

The B.C. Wildfire Service was unable to confirm on Friday (Jan. 10) whether Kamloops-based personnel will be deployed to California, but expects to offer an update on Monday.

“There is a lot of pride I’ve witnessed in my few weeks as the Minister of Forests and minister responsible for the BC Wildfire Service,” Parmar said. “If you would ask any one of these highly trained individuals if they wanted to support their neighbours, they would say so.”