Community Wildfire Resiliency Plans

What’s a wildfire resilience plan, anyway?

A Community Wildfire Resiliency Plan is a tailored plan to a specific region that will identify high-risk wildfire areas and assess how wildfire could affect the local communities. A Community Wildfire Resiliency Plan will be developed for Electoral Areas D, E, F, G, H, and L, and provide a comprehensive strategy to mitigate and manage wildfire risks, enhance community safety and preparedness. Each electoral area plan will focus on:

• identifying and assessing wildfire hazards on crown land within and around the communities found within each electoral areas

• assessing potential risks and impacts to these communities and infrastructure from wildfires, and

• providing effective and feasible mitigation strategies to reduce identified hazards and risk.

Protecting what matters: why are these plans essential?

Community Wildfire Resiliency Plans are important because wildfires are becoming a bigger threat to our communities every year. With hotter, drier weather and more extreme fire seasons, the risk to people, homes, and the land around us is growing. Many people in the Cariboo have already experienced the fear, damage, and disruption wildfires can cause. That’s why these plans matter - they are a way for communities to take action before disaster strikes. By understanding the risks and planning ahead, we can reduce the impact wildfires have on our lives. Community Wildfire Resiliency Plans are about protecting what matters most: our families, our homes, our natural environment, and the places we call home. They help ensure that we’re not just reacting to wildfires, but preparing for them in smart, effective ways.

Who's working on the plan - and when will you see it?

The CRD and Forsite Consulting Ltd. are working together to prepare these first six plans. They are in the early stages of developing them and are expecting to have them completed by late fall 2025. Furthermore, upon the recommendation of Forsite Consulting Ltd, the CRD will also create a 5-year action plan to continue to monitor the use of each plan once the initial Community Wildfire Resiliency Plans are completed and in use.

Let's talk wildfire resilience: upcoming community sessions to come!

The CRD will be hosting open houses throughout the fall of 2025 in each Electoral Area receiving a Community Wildfire Resiliency Plan this year.

The public open houses and First Nations engagement will focus on getting input on the following:

• Identifying known hazardous forested areas on crown land near communities that could be eligible for proposed fuel management treatment
• What are other priorities or concerns relating to other 7 FireSmart Disciplines (outside of vegetation management)?
• What are some of the existing barriers for implementing FireSmart principles or other improvements to wildfire preparedness/emergency response?
• How can the CRD support First Nations, stakeholders, and the public with wildfire preparedness/emergency response going forward?

The locations and times of the open houses are still to be determined. We will update this site as this information becomes available.