After consecutive years of record-breaking wildfires and floods, the province of B.C announced an additional $31 million grant to aid local governments and First Nations against environmental disasters.
This brings the Community Emergency Preparedness Fund to a total $69.5 million.
Premier john Horgan was at the Kelowna Fire Hall #1 today to give the announcement.
“We’re in a drought situation here in the Okanagan. We know that the fire season is upon us. We want to make sure communities have the resources they need so that they can take the steps they need to protect their citizens, protect their property and to protect, ultimately, the spectacular place that people in the Okanagan call home.”
Additionally, the province is investing $19 million into 40 projects, 36 of which will directly reduce wildfire risk within 2 kilometres of communities.
According to Horgan, the province spent $1.2 billion putting out fires in the last two years.
He said if the province spent a fraction of that by doing interface work, by clearing out the fuel that’s on the forest floor, they would have saved millions of dollars.
The money is available through application and is intended for proactive work, as well as for work needed after an event, to make sure recovery is as seamless as possible.