The Regional District of the Kootenay Boundary has received a $690,000 grant from the province to promote FireSmart awareness.
In a media release, the RDKB said the grant is the largest the district has ever received towards emergency preparedness services.
The funding will help the district provide the community with more opportunities for FireSmart education, the development of community wildfire resilience plans and allow them to hire wildfire mitigation specialists to perform fire-smart home assessments throughout the region.
In the release, RDKB FireSmart coordinator Carlene Pires says the provincial funding will allow them to grow the program throughout the region.
“We are extremely grateful for the Province of BC’s incredible support, which will enable us to grow and deliver the RDKB’s FireSmart program.”
The RDKB also stated wildfire mitigation specialists have already connected with residents to performing assessments across the RDKB.
“The board of directors is extremely proud of and grateful to our emergency management staff for their ongoing efforts to help keep Kootenay Boundary residents safe, as wildfires are becoming an ever-increasing concern,” says chair Linda Worley.
With wildfire season approaching, the RDKB is also encouraging residents to implement FireSmart principles, create Grab and Go kits and sign up for our free emergency evacuation alerting system through Voyent Alert at emergency.rdkb.com.