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Williams Lake mayor to give presentation at national forest fires symposium

Walt Cobb said he was invited to share information on what the Williams Lake area is doing post 2017 wildfires
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Mayor Walt Cobb will be giving a presentation during an upcoming Forest Fires Symposium in Edmonton on Aug. 28 and 29. Monica Lamb-Yorski photo

Williams Lake mayor Walt Cobb will be sharing information on how the community is moving forward after the 2017 wildfires during a Forest Fires Symposium in Edmonton later this month.

The Forest Products Association of Canada and the Canadian Forest Service have invited Cobb to participate in the symposium, along with a group of 40 to 50 experts from government, academia, forest industry, municipalities, and Indigenous communities.

“They e-mailed me and asked if I would give a presentation,” Cobb told the Tribune. “I am mainly going to talk about some of the things that went wrong and what went right and what we need to do to fire protect our community.”

Read more: Cobb shares wildfire recovery, planning at BC Mayors Caucus

Some of the items on the agenda include forest community safety, fire risk mitigation, fire management, Indigenous prescribed fires and social and policy dimensions of fire management.

Cobb said he is looking forward to attending that symposium, which takes place Aug. 28 and 29, but that he will be a bit rushed because he has an appointment scheduled for Friday, Aug. 30 to follow up with his heart specialist.

In April, the mayor underwent surgery after suffering a heart attack.

Read more: Williams Lake mayor suffers heart attack, recovering in hospital



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Monica Lamb-Yorski

About the Author: Monica Lamb-Yorski

A B.C. gal, I was born in Alert Bay, raised in Nelson, graduated from the University of Winnipeg, and wrote my first-ever article for the Prince Rupert Daily News.
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