HERE AT TWO AND OUT, we’re all about saying thank-you to those who help out during devastating wildfires.
We do it with some kind words and, if the opportunity presents itself, a firm handshake and a heartfelt “thank you.”
Hopefully it shows how much we appreciate firefighters and volunteers alike.
A $100,000 monument to the greatness of our volunteers seems misplaced.
That’s what the Thompson-Nicola Regional District is proposing, and the district is now soliciting opinions on design options.
What most volunteers really want is not to have to volunteer in future years, thanks to a decrease in devastating wildfires.
$100,000 could go toward a lot of very constructive measures toward that goal.
It could go toward fire mitigation work around populated areas.
It could go toward fire-proofing areas adjacent to railway tracks to prepare for the inevitability of flying sparks.
$100,000 could go toward equipment and training for volunteer fire departments in rural communities.
It could also go toward increasing the budget for investigators looking into human-caused fires like last year’s devastating Elephant Hill blaze.
Experts say wildfires like we saw last season will become more and more common, unfortunately, and we may see another season like 2017 before we know it.
You can be fully confident that, in the event of wide scale evacuations, our community’s volunteers will step up in the future just as they did last year.
Will we put up a monument to them every time it happens?
Or will we do everything we can to prevent wildfires from causing the devastation that necessitates a widespread volunteer effort in the first place?
That would be the best way to say thank-you.
