BC has spent more than three times its wildfire fighting budget
Posted August 19, 2014 8:41 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – The province is paying a pretty penny when it comes to fighting forest fires this summer.
Around $200 million has been spent in the last few months, blowing past the original budget of around $60 million. And since the season is not over yet, that number is expected to grow.
Kevin Skrepnek with the Wildfire Management Branch says when it comes to the size and severity of fires, this year has been the worst we have seen since 2010.
“We are spending upwards of $3 million a day, in terms of our response, and that is just in terms of our crews on the ground, in aircraft… of the whole picture.”
But he notes regardless of the cost, they’ll keep on spending. “We have an allocated budget every year… we spend what’s necessary according to the threat. Every season is going to be unique, in terms of the level of activity we see.”
There have been over 1,100 wildfires since April. The heat and dry weather have worked against crews this summer.
“Something we definitely encountered across this season has been hold-over fires. A lightning strike occurs, it might not be terribly hot or windy at the time, but it does actually ignite at a very small, hard-to-detect fire on the ground. Once conditions return to hot and dry, it can flare up into a full-fledged fire.”
Right now, there are 84 wildfires burning in BC. The largest is near Chelaslie River at over 110,000 hectares.
