Wildfires Highlight Campbell Government’s Failure To Learn Lessons From 2003
VICTORIA – With fires crews hard at work battling wildfires raging around Kelowna, the Campbell government must answer questions about why they failed to take action to clear buffer zones around communities as recommended by a report into the 2003 forest fires, the New Democrats said today.
“The fire service and fire fighters are doing an amazing job. Our first priority needs to
Norm Macdonald be keeping people safe,” said New Democrat forest critic Norm Macdonald .
“We also know an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. As families flee their neighbourhoods and homes go up in smoke, people are asking whether the provincial government did everything it could to prevent this type of tragedy.”
Macdonald noted that after the devastating forest fires of 2003, Gary Filmon wrote a comprehensive report that called on the provincial government to take the lead on preventing forest fires.
“In the six years since the tragic fires of 2003, the Campbell government has failed to take action on all of Mr. Filmon's recommendations, particularly in terms of creating buffer zones around communities like Kelowna,” said Macdonald.
“We need to be reducing the causes of wildfires. But it simply hasn’t happened. Experts estimate that the Campbell government has only cleared brush from less than two per cent of the land that was identified by the Filmon report, increasing the risk to scores of communities.”
According to the government’s own figures, only $17 million has been spent on forest fire prevention since the Filmon report, less than a quarter of the $75 million funding that was recommended.
“It has been six years. We need to learn the lessons from the 2003 wildfires, we need to prepare so we can take steps to help prevent fires impacting our communities,” said Macdonald.
Macdonald noted that progress has been made on certain recommendations of the Filmon report, notably those around improved communications with the public.
