B.C. Wildfire Service prepping to replace employees who are heading back to school
Posted Aug 15, 2017 6:20 am.
Last Updated Aug 15, 2017 6:59 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
B.C.’s worst fire season since 1958 is now closer to becoming the worst on record.
Since April 1st, nearly 730-thousand hectares have been lost to fires, compared to 855-thousand the year the record was set.
Chief Information Officer Kevin Skrepnek said there’s plenty of summer left and after Labour Day, many B.C Wildfire Service employees will have to be replaced by workers from other provinces and the military.
‘All of our fire fighters are seasonal, and a big portion of that are folks who do return to school. A lot of our support staff as well, in terms of dispatch and things like that, are post-secondary students. We have been putting a lot of planning into that crunch that is coming in a few weeks here as those people start to transition out,” said Skrepnek.
There are currently 162 wildfires burning across B.C.
