BC Wildfire Service reflects on 2024; Minister of forests preparing for 2025

The BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) says the growing impact of climate change is creating more demand for advanced wildfire strategies in rural and remote communities.

In a release Sunday, the service reflected on another year of battling more than 1,688 wildfires over 1.08 million hectares starting in April.

“In 2024, there were 51 evacuation orders, which affected more than 4,100 properties, and 112 evacuation alerts, which affected more than 11,600 properties,” BCWS said.

The newly appointed Minister of Forests Ravi Parmar tells The Leader Spirit understanding the needs of those communities will be one of his priorities.

“I’m going to be doing a tour of much of the province — as much as I can in January, but of course, condensed over the next few months… having conversations on forestry, but also having conversations on the wildfire service and really listening to communities around what supports government can [provide]. How we can step up; and how we can support communities, while also making sure that we’re working directly with communities where there may be challenges or opportunities as well,” said Parmar.

He says Premier David Eby’s task force Expert Task Force on Emergencies has given his ministry some guidance, but visiting rural communities will help with planning for the future.

The province says it’s continuing to expand the number of firefighting tools available to crews as it did in the last year.

“Throughout 2024, upgrades were made to firefighting equipment and fire-camp infrastructure, which are critical to the safety and well-being of wildland firefighters. Additionally, the BC Wildfire Service purchased and used more on-the-ground firefighting equipment, such as pumps, fire-camp equipment and safety gear, as well as medical and hygiene equipment,” said the release Sunday.

It adds that the service also began using predictive software, implemented night-vision imaging for active fires, and redeveloped the public BC Wildfire mobile app.

The province has also announced a first-of-its-kind wildfire training and education centre in partnership with the Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops.

“The program will offer comprehensive wildfire training and education, progressing from basic field skills to academic diploma and degree programs in wildfire and emergency management disciplines. The dedicated wildfire program will offer career development pathways in wildfire management for B.C.’s future wildland firefighters.”

Parmar says he’s proud to take on leadership of the ministry as the BCWS continues to improve.

“This is going to be a challenging portfolio, but I know that there’s a lot of good people out there that can be able to help advise me and give me guidance as I as I do this work,” said Parmar.

—With files from Cecilia Hua and Raynaldo Suarez.