BC spends triple its firefighting budget
Posted August 13, 2014 10:49 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – There is some good news on the wildfire front in this province now that the air quality advisory issued for the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley has been lifted.
But the cooler, wet weather isn’t dampening BC’s firefighting budget. The province had set aside $63 million to battle any blazes over the summer months, but Fire Information Officer George Maratos says the budget has already gone up in smoke.
“Approximately $177.3 million has been spent this year. The Prince George Fire Centre has seen the majority of the activity; roughly $44.7 million has been spent in that centre.”
Maratos says there are a lot of factors which make it so costly. “Having our crews out there is one, but air resources are also something that costs money of course, with fuel and with retardant, and with hours flown and with the aircraft itself, so that is definitely where some of the cost is for sure.”
There are over 100 wildfires burning in BC right now. The largest is the Chelaslie River blaze which is over 80,000 hectares.
Meantime, an evacuation alert was issued late Tuesday by the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako as the uncontained China Nose fire flared, 15 kilometres south of Houston.
The alert covers a remote stretch of backcountry and there’s no indication any buildings are threatened, but the steep terrain and aggressive activity of the lightning-caused blaze make it unsafe for crews to actively work its flanks.
The China Nose fire is among several that broke out Monday, including one west of Bull Canyon near Alexis Creek in the Cariboo region that has forced sporadic closures of Highway 20, the only road leading to the central coast community of Bella Coola.
