Keep communities safe from wildfire

Preventative fuel management plans always be need to be in place

In case you missed it, there was an interesting interview with Robert Gray, co-author of the 2004 Filmon Report, about the increasing danger of destructive wildfires in this province.

The interview was on CBC Radio’s Daybreak morning show from Kelowna last Thursday. In the interview, Gray predicted we will have more wildfires and that they will be more destructive and more difficult to put out. Funding for forest fuel management programs, such as the one carried out around Clearwater and Vavenby over the past two years is to end this year. The programs are expensive, but Gray pointed out that last year the province spent $350 million on fighting wildfires. It is far cheaper to spend money preventing extreme wildfire events by reducing forest fuels than trying to control those events once they occur, he felt. Link to full article
Clearwater Times – February 07, 2011