Minnekhada wildfire fund to help with Coquitlam park recovery

An emergency fund has been set up to respond to the wildfire in Coquitlam’s Minnekhada Regional Park.

The money is being raised to help pay for initial assessment as well as ongoing restoration efforts like replanting trees, rebuilding trails, and adding more native vegetation.

“So it could be months, could be years, and any extra funds that we might have would go towards making the park more resilient so that if there are future fires that we minimize the damage if we can,” Janet Antonio, executive director of the Metro Vancouver Regional Parks Foundation, told CityNews Wednesday.

“A lot of the recovery work is going to have to be assessed, because we can’t assess it until the smoke clears and the embers are cool. But we wanted to be proactive and get in that so that people know that they can help the park.”

Related article: 

• Minnekhada wildfire in Coquitlam no longer out of control

• Minnekhada Regional Park wildfire shrinking, but not yet fully contained

The fire has been contained to 14 hectares and is no longer considered out of control. However, the park remains closed to the public, with no estimate as to when it may reopen.

The blaze was first reported on Saturday, Oct. 1, as the region continued to see unseasonably warm and dry weather.

Antonio says in the days since the fire was sparked, many people have been offering to help in any way they can.

“We’ve spoken to the Minnekhada Park Association, which is a group of volunteers, and they are hearing from a lot of people and they want to come in and help, physically come into the park and help when they’re able to do it, but we also thought that there would be people who would want to find other ways to support the park as well,” she explained, adding that’s when the idea of the fund was born.

Donations can be made to the Minnekhada Recovery Fund online.