Williams Lake is calling in a 9-1-1 to the federal and provincial governments asking for a $1-billion recovery fund to help wildfire-impacted communities in B.C.
Scott Nelson, Williams Lake City Councillor
“We are in dire straights,” Coun. Scott Nelson said during Tuesday’s city council meeting as he put forth a motion calling for the government aid.
The “emergency” motion, which council endorsed unanimously, suggests the fund be called the Rural Fire Recovery Fund 2017. It would help First Nations and non-First Nations communities by injecting cash quickly to encourage economic recovery, Nelson said.
“There’s no doubt this has been an unprecedented year and we are still in the midst of it in terms of an economic crisis. Today there has been more than $410 million in direct costs fighting fires in the province, close to 11,000 square kilometres of timber, bush and grasslands have been destroyed.”
Recalling 2003, wildfires cost $1.3 million in direct fire suppression costs and economic losses, he added.
When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and NDP Premier John Horgan visited the area at the end of July they were able to view the situation for themselves and were made aware by local government leaders that assistance is needed, Nelson said.
“I don’t want to see analysis or studies. What we need is cash for our communities across the board. It would be used to help our economies with the boost they need to get back up to the level they were at before the fires.”
The funds could help with fencing, tourism, forestry and mining, he added.
“If we don’t ask, we are not going to get help. I think we need to stake out our position now and we need to start to stimulate our economy.”
Mayor Walt Cobb said he agreed and has heard from governments there will be funds available when the fires are over, but he insisted that communities don’t have time to wait until the fire season is over.
“This could go on until October and we have ranchers out there whose hay got burnt whose cattle got burnt and who have no place to get feed from right now,” Cobb said. “I’ve talked to people in the agricultural industry in other areas where they are having floods and they cannot get the crops off anyway. So we are going to have a real dilemma. I don’t know where we are going to be able to buy hay.”
Ranchers and tourism operators are calculating their losses and Cobb said “it’s going to be brutal.”
Cobb is also working on a resolution himself that would call for a two-kilometre boundary interface fire management plan around the community.
“With the many fires in the province this summer and the prediction that this may become the norm, the time has come to look at a comprehensive plan in and around all communties that border forested land.”
Fires are approaching closer and closer to the populated areas and public safety has to be a priority in dealing with the fuel that has been allowed to accumulate with the present forest management criteria, he added.
“The city in partnership with the Williams Lake Indian Band manages a community forest with a large part of it bordering with the city boundaries,” Cobb said. “Due to the present practices it has become apparent that we will not be able to put in place measures that will keep our residents safe if/when the fires should happen.”
Cobb also said it will be impossible to mitigate the damage of the existing fire area to allow for harvesting and regeneration of the burned forest for future productivity under current legislation.
“We are asking for legislation under the government act to make it a priority so that we can manage around our community for forest fire mitigation.”