The time has come for the B.C. Wildfire Service to begin ramping up for another wildfire season, and like last year, the agency received a record number of applications for seasonal firefighters.
Approximately 2,400 applications were received for roughly 200 to 250 spots.
“That is outstanding,” Forests Minister Ravi Parmar said in a Monday (March 16) interview.
The B.C. Wildfire Service also has about 600 year-round staff, though the seasonal workers do most of the on-the-ground firefighting. And the province has another 700 contracted from private companies to deploy as needed.
Bootcamps for the new workers are scheduled to begin in early April.
The outlook for the summer fire season is still uncertain. While the province’s snowpack is at 91 per cent of normal overall, according to the latest measure, some areas are below 50 per cent, including the Skagit region, the Chilcotin and Vancouver Island. In the Okanagan, the snowpack was measured at an all-time low in four locations on March 1.
The province will provide a thorough seasonal outlook in early April. But the situation can still shift depending on late spring rains — or the lack thereof.
“If we get lots of precipitation in May and June, we should be okay,” Parmar said. “If we don’t, then it may pose for a challenging wildfire season.”
Either way, the province is expanding its operational footprint in northeastern B.C. by spending $21 million on a Prince George equipment depot. Previously, B.C. Wildfire Service rented space in Prince George while keeping most resources elsewhere.
The agency has a large depot in Chilliwack, but that is a 700-kilometre drive away, and the northeast has borne the brunt of several recent fire seasons.
“The ability to pre-position resources is so critical,” Parmar said.
The ministry is also continuing to invest in and deploy new equipment and technologies, adding 10 more structure-protection units and a fifth aircraft equipped with night-vision imaging capabilities.
Parmar called the imaging technology “one of the biggest innovation and technology pieces,” saying it was instrumental in controlling the Mount Underwood fire on Vancouver Island last summer.
After being discovered on Aug. 11 near Port Alberni, the Mount Underwood fire grew rapidly, causing evacuations and a months-long closure of the Bamfield Main Road.
“The ability not only to be able to fight those fires, but also for reconnaissance, the ability to be able to gather information in the early mornings, is critical,” he said.
The province is also bringing the chiefs of 1,700 local fire departments to Victoria in the coming weeks for a training conference on structure protection in the wildland-urban interface.
And while the province deploys new technology to fight fires — including fire growth modelling programs that the public may not necessarily see, but that Parmar said “blows my mind” — the ministry also has to combat misinformation being created by artificial intelligence (AI) software.
Parmar is urging people to be cautious about where they get information after “a lot of” issues with fake images of B.C. wildfires posted online last season.
He said the “latest and greatest” information is always available on the B.C. Wildfire Service app.