Candidates on fire response

With the Oct. 19 provincial election approaching, Castanet caught up with candidates in the Salmon Arm-Shuswap riding to discuss wildfires.

Candidates were asked what they and their party would do to improve wildfire response and mitigate future wildfire disasters.

“Sounds like a climate change question to me, actually,” said Sylvia Lindgren, BC NDP candidate.

“I think that it's going to take a huge shift in our societal thinking about what we need, what we can live without, what changes are we going to make in our personal lives, and what changes the government can make to reduce our greenhouse gasses.”

She said the BC NDP is pursuing new partnerships with First Nations groups to learn more about traditional burning and land management practices that will also help reduce fuel loads in B.C.’s forests.

Lindgren said the BC NDP’s decision to keep BC Wildfire Service working year round is also an important step to deal with longer wildfire seasons.

Jed Wiebe, BC Green Party candidate, also felt addressing climate change is an important factor.

“Without addressing climate change, wildfires are only going to get exponentially worse,” he said. “We're already at the point where wildfires are so much worse than they would have been without climate change, and even if we do respond to climate change right now, we're still going to be faced with some pretty bad climate-fuelled forest fires.”

He said the BC Green Party will tackle climate change by stopping subsidies for oil and gas projects, and transition to 100 per cent renewable energy sources by 2030.

Wiebe said his party also has plans to improve disaster response in B.C.

“What we want to do is adopt the United Nations Sendai Framework for disaster management,” he said. “We want to build communities to be more resilient and more prepared for wildfires and other natural disasters.”

He added the Greens would put additional funding towards forest management and wildfire fighting infrastructure.

Independent candidate Greg McCune said he thinks it's important to start with forestry management.

“We always have had fires, but they were manageable back in the day," McCune said.

He said the province needs to bring back past forestry practices like cut blocks and wind tunnels in order to keep wildfires to smaller sizes.

“I think that we actively have to get back in and manage that, but also realize that it is a new reality,” he said.

McCune said wildfire management practices need more funding, and he would also like to see local resources better used during wildfire operations.

“There's a lot of people that understand their areas,” he said. “I think you need to have those connections with the local people in certain areas that are being affected.”

BC Conservative candidate David Williams agreed local input needs to be a key part of wildfire management going forward.

“We want more local input, as well as the inventory of equipment that can be used in case of emergency, as well as local people that will assist in times of emergency," he said.

Williams said he believes wildfire management processes in the province need to be reviewed, and he thinks B.C. needs better forest management.

“We've had poor practices in forestry for the last probably 20 or 30 years,” he said. “We need a comprehensive plan that addresses fire prevention, forest management, as well as wildfire response.”

He added the BC Conservatives would continue the FireSmart program and also look at what is being planted and how forests are being managed.

Castanet reached out to independent candidate Sherry Roy for comment, but did not hear back by deadline.