Kimberley City Council has adopted its updated 2025 Community Wildfire Resiliency Plan to ensure the city can continue receiving grant funding.
Fire Chief Will Booth says Kimberley’s old Community Wildfire Resiliency Plan, adopted in 2009, needed to be updated to align with provincial standards.
“The reason we’re doing this is due to funding requirement changes announced by the UBCM (Union of BC Municipalities) in 2023,” said Booth.
“Moving forward with future projects, we need to hit three checkmarks, which are: having a FireSmart Position, a Community FireSmart and Resiliency Committee – those two we meet already – and updating the current Community Wildfire Resiliency Plan, which we are currently checking off.”
The update will ensure the plan meets the standards of the FireSmart Community Funding and Support (FSCFS) Program.
“This will allow us to continue applying for any future grant funding under that FSCFS umbrella,” said Booth.
FireSmart BC is a program meant to empower homeowners and municipalities in their efforts to protect their communities from wildfires.
“Within the document, it speaks to all seven disciplines of FireSmart, building out from wildfire and fuel management,” said Booth.
“Now we’re looking at education, vegetation management, legislative and planning, development considerations, emergency planning, interagency cooperation and cross-training.”
FireSmart programs can involve education, guides, home assessments, and wildfire prevention and mitigation resources.
“The CWRP contains an action plan, community information, a local wildfire environment, and a FireSmart roadmap. The action items and the road map will assist with future budgeting,” said Booth.
“We intend to use this document as a strategic plan to guide us toward getting those action items done over the next few years.”
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