The BC government is launching an “expert task force” to review this year’s wildfire season.

Premier David Eby made the announcement Monday morning as part of a stop-over in Kamloops as British Columbia deals with its worst wildfire season on record. 

“I think there are many reasons for the wildfire season we have seen; one of the most disturbing – obviously – is climate change, the incredibly dry weather, the fact that majority of the province is in level four and five stage drought,” he said. 

Eby says the make-up of the task force — while not finalized — will include both government and non-government voices.

“It is also critically important to have an independent voice, a voice from municipal firefighting for example would be a good voice. A voice from the BC Wildfire Service that is not from the management level would also be a good voice to have about that front-line experience.”

Eby says this as he points to the lack of humidity and rainfall across the province this year, which caused frontline firefighters to see unprecedented fire behaviour. 

“Our frontline firefighters have seen fire tornadoes, have had to evacuate camps that they had set up and they have seen the spread of embers well beyond their traditional two-kilometer radius. Getting that feedback from our front-line firefighters about what they have seen about assumptions that may have been made previously that are no longer true, is going to be critically important.”

Meanwhile, Eby says the province is basing its task force on feedback it’s already received. He says this includes collaborating with communities and First Nations, enhancing technology, supporting those on the front line, and providing advice on how to increase local volunteer recruitment.

“The BC Wildfire Service, to their credit, actually incorporated community volunteers in some of their firefighting efforts – at one point 17 local people were on a BC Wildfire shift helping fight fires… How do we formalize that? How do we learn from Australia’s example on this?”

The task force will also provide ways to address the need for more accessible support for evacuees, with specific attention to timely access to short-term financial support and accommodation. 

Eby says the province must continually update and enhance prevention and response measures to the near-constant series of emergencies we face as a result of climate change. 

“As I visit wildfire-affected areas, I am in awe of the dedication and professionalism of the first responders, volunteers, and BC Wildfire Service and Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness staff,” stated Eby. “We owe it to all of those who fought the fires, left their homes behind, and opened their hearts to feed and house evacuees to find ways to support them better as climate disasters get worse and more frequent.”

The move by the province follows calls by the Mayor of Barriere and the broader TNRD for a 3rd party review to determine what did or did not go well during this year’s wildfire season.

–With files from Paul James