Many residents are still scrambling with the impacts of last year’s wildfires, Cariboo-Chilcotin MLA Donna Barnett said.
“We just dealt with a whole bunch of them today,” she told the Tribune from her constituency office during a recent interview.
“Today we dealt with a couple of volunteer organizations that didn’t know they were eligible for a small amount of funding due to the wildfires. We encouraged them to work with us to help them apply.”
She also continues to work with residents who were burned out and did not have insurance or are now trying to rebuild.
“Some people within the Cariboo Regional District and the Thompson Nicola Regional District are dealing with building permits and having to get the geotechnical assessments done because of the fires. The costs are exorbitant.”
Last week Barnett helped with some Highway 20 residents who lost their home in the fires and had purchased a 16-foot-wide mobile home.
As 16-wides are not legal on B.C. roads, the towing company had to apply for permission to transport, she said.
“I got a phone call because the mobile home was coming from out of the province. We got in contact with the right people and got that trailer up the Sheep Creek Hill and off the highway,” Barnett said. “These are the kinds of things we were dealing with every day.”
To date Barnett has not seen any recommendations come out of the independent review of the 2017 wildfires and floods prepared by former Liberal Minister George Abbot and Chief Maureen Chapman of the Skawahlook First Nation
“When the report came out, the minister said he would make his remarks by October, ” Barnett said, noting she was disappointed in the report.
“I didn’t see enough, on the ground information like the people had told me. It was a very high end report, I was expecting to see more about how the fires impacted people and who was on the ground to help them and what can be done in the future.”
A few constituents told her they think rangers should be working in the forestry lookout towers again so there is somebody looking out 24/7.
“The airplanes are good, but they can only be on the lookout so much, but from those towers you can spot smoke fires away. Simple things like that would give local people confidence.”
Barnett has heard from contractors that there have been some changes made for the better when it comes to firefighting.
“When the Allie Lake wildfire was burning, some contractors I know from here that went down there told me there were some changes that were positive. Instead of starting at 11 a.m. they started at eight in the morning. Some of the issues they had before about how the fire guards were being built had been improved from their point of view.”
There are also more small attack teams on the ground able to move quicker if necessary, which is positive, she added.
Barnett said she continues to scan the horizon every time she’s outside.
“If I see a puff of smoke or a police vehicle or ambulance goes by, I’m checking it out. I think lots of people are doing that. Now we’ve got these fires in the Okanagan and I just had a phone call from a friend who is there and he said there’s so much smoke everywhere. I told him ‘welcome to our world.'”
The 2017 wildfires have taught people living in the region the need to be prepared, she added.
“It’s important to know where your important documents and valuables are and be ready to move quickly if needed.”
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