The British Columbia Forest Service on April 1 is moving the province’s Wildfire Coordination Center from Victoria to the Kamloops Fire Center (KFC). The staff of seven full-time and five part-time employees will move their offices into a new building at Fulton Field which is attached to the Air Tanker Center at the Kamloops Airport. The staff, while working out a the new $4.5 million, 8,000 square foot facility, will organize the overall wildfire response from a provincial level.
The province of British Columbia is divided into six Fire Centers: Coastal, Northwest, Prince George, Southeast, Kamloops, and Cariboo which are each responsible for wildfire management within their area of responsibility.
Fire Centers provide administrative, wildfire suppression and aviation services to all staff within their area of operation. Fire Centers are staffed by forest officers, dispatchers, fire fighters and support staff who coordinate wildfire prevention, detection and suppression activities.
As an example of the fire suppression staffing in one of the Fire Centers, the Kamloops Fire Center (KFC) has:
- 22, 3-person initial attack crews
- 6, 20-person “unit” crews
- 12, 3-person rappell crews
Question: If they have an open house at the new facilities at the KFC, what kind of food should they serve? 😉
