B.C. forests minister says the province rethinking FireSmart funding model<\/p>\n
Published 1:30 pm Friday, February 20, 2026<\/p>\n
B.C. Forest Minister Ravi Parmar says the province is planning to rethink how it funds community FireSmart initiatives after topping up the program with a one-time $15 million boost in the latest budget.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of success, but I need to ensure that that program is meeting the needs of communities,\u201d Parmar said on Thursday, Feb. 20.<\/p>\n
The province introduced the FireSmart Community Funding and Supports programs in 2018, providing approximately $175 million since then for communities to hire coordinators, conduct education campaigns and pay for fuel management efforts.<\/p>\n
This fund began to run dry earlier this year, and the government imposed a closed intake starting on Jan. 30 to disburse the last $25 million. The deadline for communities to apply is April 30.<\/p>\n
This closed intake also limits how the money can be used, excluding expensive fuel management work.<\/p>\n
The Union of B.C. Municipalities (UBCM) and First Nations\u2019 Emergency Services Society jointly manage the fund and agreed to the changes.<\/p>\n
But they also sought more money. UBCM President Cori Ramsay wanted an additional $40 million.<\/p>\n
\u201cFifteen million [dollars] is better than zero, but it\u2019s not what we were hoping for,\u201d Ramsay said, saying it saves money in the long run.<\/p>\n
\u201cUBCM will continue to make the province aware that this is one area where they shouldn\u2019t cut back,\u201d Ramsay said. \u201cAnd spending on prevention is a better use of funds than spending on recovery, which is 10 times the cost.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parmar said he was \u201cproud\u201d to be making this added investment into what he called a successful program, but added that the government is reviewing funding streams to ensure they serve the best interests of British Columbians.<\/p>\n
The local impacts <\/p>\n
Some communities, like West Kelowna, need this money \u2014 and more.<\/p>\n
West Kelowna has been forced to evacuate tens of thousands of residents and has lost hundreds of homes to fires in recent years.<\/p>\n
Fire Chief Jason Brolund says the community has used this funding to develop a community resiliency plan, hire staff, help people conduct risk assessments of their homes and, in the past, complete landscape fuel management.<\/p>\n
\u201cActually removing fuel and making parks and community-owned spaces safer when it comes to wildfire risk,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Brolund said it is scientifically proven that these FireSmart efforts saved homes in those recent wildfire events.<\/p>\n
And he is optimistic about the $15 million boost, which will mean 75 more communities can access funding. Communities are limited to $200,000 each, so the added funding means more communities get money.<\/p>\n
But this is nowhere near enough for West Kelowna, and he is \u201cconcerned\u201d about the future of FireSmart in his community. It is difficult not knowing if they will be able to get more funding after this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe could use a million dollars a year in our community over the next five years and still not be able to fully complete the work outlined in our plan,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Parmar acknowledged West Kelowna \u201cneeds more dollars\u201d in his reasoning for rethinking the program.<\/p>\n
Brolund says he is looking forward to sharing his ideas with the province and is on board with the broader goal of integrating forest management practices and wildfire resilience.<\/p>\n
But, he says, his community needs sustainable, long-term funding, without red tape, to accomplish these goals.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need time, and we need certainty to be able to plan our activities and design our programs and be able to roll them out across multiple years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"B.C. forests minister says the province rethinking FireSmart funding model Published 1:30 pm Friday, February 20, 2026 B.C.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490171,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194299],"tags":[49,48,87674],"class_list":{"0":"post-490170","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-surrey","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-surrey"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/490171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}