By James Peters / Chad Harris

Quiet wildfire season saves B.C. millions

Oct 20, 2016 | 4:09 PM

KAMLOOPS — With the wildfire season all but wrapped up, provincial officials say 2016 was extraordinarily quiet.

Chief Fire Information Officer Kevin Skrepnek says 1,050 fires were recorded this year, a 42 per cent decrease from 2015.

Skrepnek says that means the province has saved a lot of money, compared to the firefighting expenditures of the past two years.

“As of today we are looking at a little over $121 million spent. Not an insignificant sum by any stretch of the imagination, but comparing that to some years previous – 2015 we were at about $268 million at this point, 2014 was $288 million,” explained Skrepnek.

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Skrepnek notes the bulk of the fire activity happened early in the season, especially in the province’s Peace region.

“Certainly we did have some interface activity, particularly in the Okanagan towards the end of August. Some evacuations as well as a result, but thankfully no major loss of structure, certainly no loss of lives.”

He adds this year was also significant because it saw very few campfire bans, including the complete absence of a ban in the Kamloops Fire Centre.

“We did have a campfire ban in briefly in place for parts of the Coastal Fire Centre. As well briefly up in the northwest. Given the weather we had this summer, any dry periods we had were typically bookended by stormy conditions and enough rain to keep that fire hazard down.”

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