The BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) is trying to determine how restrictions because of COVID-19 will impact their response capabilities during the upcoming wildfire season.

Fire Information Officer Jody Lucius says that includes moving to virtual training where possible, and reducing class sizes for training that has to be done in-person.

“So we’ve put together an adaptation and continuity team and basically those folks are in place to basically expedite some of the decision making around things we may need to adjust related to COVID in reducing that exposure for all of our staff, including our firefighting crews.”

Lucius says there will be open burning restrictions as of next Thursday in an effort to reduce the risk of human-cased wildfires during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’re also looking at our fire camps. We know that fire camps on a large fire can house a number of people and even prior to the COVID pandemic, we were implementing ways to ensure the health and well-being of our staff,” Lucius said.

“That’s the basic that we can do and then as well increase the availability for example of laundry facilities and hand washing stations and things like that at our fire camps.”

She says the BCWS has a mandate to respond to wildfires as well as floods, if needed, noting they are looking for creative solutions to be as effective as possible moving forward during this pandemic.