Community Wildfire Resiliency Plan

As with many parts of British Columbia, Kamloops is in an active fire environment. In recent years, our community has been surrounded by large, recorded-breaking fires and has been a central hub for emergency response. Wildfire resiliency, prevention, and mitigation are a central focus of our community as fire seasons continue to worsen.

A Community Wildfire Resiliency Plan is the next generation of our Community Wildfire Protection Plan. The City last updated its Community Wildfire Protection Plan in 2016, with extensive work taking place since 1986.

The wildfire risk assessment provides a thorough description and analysis of the local wildfire environment, local wildfire history, the Provincial Strategic Threat Analysis, and local wildfire threat assessments, including GIS and field analyses. Action items in the Community Wildfire Resiliency Plan will leverage the seven FireSmart disciplines outlined by FireSmart Canada to develop a comprehensive strategy aimed at enhancing resiliency to wildfires.

The plan helps to:

• identify and assess wildfire threats and vulnerabilities across municipal and surrounding public lands
• reduce the likelihood and impacts of wildfire on neighbourhoods and infrastructure
• improve preparedness, response capacity, and recovery planning
• guide wildfire mitigation investments and fuel management activities
• support FireSmart practices at the community and property level
• align local actions with provincial wildfire resiliency frameworks and best practices