BC Wildfire Service expecting to complete transition to year-round operations by September

KAMLOOPS — After announcing $145 million in funding for the BC Wildfire Service and Emergency Management BC, the province provided more details Friday (Mar. 18) around how that money will be spent.

The province says planning to make the BC Wildfire Service a year-round operation is in the early stages, but hiring more staff will be a key component.

“My understanding is a lot of the new staff will be boots on the ground,” says Minister of Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation Ravi Kahlon.

During a visit to the Kamloops Fire Centre on Friday, Kahlon says the details have to be ironed out around how many people are needed, and what portion will be new hires or existing seasonal workers. But the province figures they won’t be short on applications to fill those positions.

“I’m confident that they’re going to be able to find the talent they need to take up these good employment opportunities.”

Cliff Chapman, BC Wildfire’s Director of Provincial Operations says the service currently has a permanent workforce of more than 400 fulltime staff. More than 1,000 auxiliary and support staff are brought in for the eight-month fire season and the hope is some of those seasonal hires will want to take on 12 months a year.

“In terms of the overarching plan with the $145 million and the fulltime service, we’re really looking to try to having that ready to roll out come September which is historically when some of our auxiliary workforce would be departing.”

In the short term, Chapman says the service is expecting to see a boost in time for this year’s summer wildfires.

“We will see a full capacity back to the numbers that we’ve had in the past, as well as a slight increase to try to support an increase in our crews — firefighting crews,” he explains. “We will see more than we had last year in our firefighting crews.”

Kahlon says the plan is to also enhance the amount of community involvement. The province has pledged $98 million over three years for prevention work, and another $90 million in community grants for Firesmart initiatives.

“Also part of the budget we’ve announced additional financial supports to work with communities to do the fire mitigation,” notes Kahlon. “That also will create lots of employment opportunity across the province — in particular in this region.”

Specifics won’t be nailed down for several months, but by September, the BC Wildfire Service aims to have resources and people in place for year-round operations.