By Canadian Press with files from Greg Fry

2017 flood and wildfires ‘the new normal’: report

May 10, 2018 | 3:53 PM

VICTORIA — An independent review of British Columbia’s response to last year’s wildfires and flooding makes 108 recommendations and calls for an overhaul of disaster response practices.

Wildfires and floods last year displaced 65,000 people, and the fires scorched more than 1.2 million hectares, costing more than $630 million.

There were no fatalities in the 1,342 fires.

The review says there should be a partnership with First Nations, local, provincial and federal governments to better prepare for emergencies.

Former Liberal cabinet minister George Abbott and hereditary chief Maureen Chapman, who is from the Chilliwack-area, were appointed last December to undertake the first major examination of fire response programs since 2003, when about 2,500 fires destroyed more than 300 homes and businesses.

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“Everything we have heard as part of this process would suggest that 2017 was not anomalous, it was not a one-off that happened and will go away,” said Abbott. “This is clearly something that we have to be thinking about not only for 2018 but for every year in the future.”

He added the flooding we’ve seen so far this year is likely only the beginning.

“I’d love to think all of the snowpack as it melts cooperates with the rain that will undoubtedly come with the higher temperatures that will undoubtedly come but I think we have every reason to be apprehensive and we need to think not only of the flood season of 2018, but 2019, 2020 and again.”

The report does not include an estimate of how much it would cost to implement the report’s recommendations.

You can read the full report by clicking here.