Local governments in B.C. must make plans to reduce the risks of all disasters starting in 2027

Municipal officials across B.C. are waiting to see how much financial support, if any, they will get from the new Conservative government to fulfil requirements that they produce more comprehensive emergency management plans for natural and other disasters.

The list of disasters is long.

It includes floods, wildfires, earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, avalanches, drought, extreme temperatures, severe storms, volcanoes, hazardous spills, industrial accidents, dam breaches, disease outbreaks, environmental contamination and terrorism, according to a briefing report for local governments on the changes under the Emergency and Disaster Management Act.

The amendments, the first in three decades, passed in 2023 under then-Premier David Eby’s New Democrats and go into force in January 2027.

The province’s local governments must start putting together risk assessments and emergency management plans for any disaster they could face, including how to reduce risks, and as well as plans to keep their communities running after they’re hit by major disasters.

The 188 municipalities and regional districts have until 2031 to produce assessments and plans.

Sarrah Storey, president of the Union of B.C. Municipalities, says she is encouraged by the fact that premier-designate Lorne Doerkson has said that emergency preparedness is a priority.

But local governments have long said they can’t afford on their own the cost of reducing disaster risks, which are increasing because of climate change.

“Local governments really want guaranteed, long-term funding and a capacity framework. They want a three-to-four-year commitment,” said Storey, mayor of Fraser Lake in north-central B.C.

Assessing and reducing disaster risks — which include upgrading dikes and increasing floodplains, and creating firebreaks and thinning forests around communities — can be incredibly expensive.

And while the province has previously put up tens of millions of dollars in short-term funding and other money for individual projects, including $76.6 million to upgrade the critical Barrowtown pump station in Abbotsford, it’s nowhere near the billions of dollars of projects needed to reduce risks, outlined in a 2022 Postmedia News investigation.

For example, Delta, which faces flood threats from the Fraser River and the ocean, estimates dike and other upgrades will cost $3 billion.

During last month’s election campaign, at a stop in the Interior town of Summerland, Doerkson announced that the Tories would implement a wildfire plan to protect the province’s communities. The plan includes buying water bombers, clearing dangerous fuels, speeding up safe prescribed burns, helping crews work together faster and funding early detection technology.

The Conservatives didn’t put a cost to clearing dangerous fuels or speeding up controlled burns, but stated that $400 million would be spent on expanding the water-bomber fleet and another $100 million on a technology innovation fund.