Jim Cooperman delivers his petition to the legislature in Victoria on Feb. 12, 2024.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/shuswappassion.ca

Following a devastating fire season for the Shuswap region, a petition calling for major changes to BC Wildfire Service has been presented to the premier last week.

Lee Creek resident Jim Cooperman spurred the petition in November in response to both the Bush Creek East and the McDougall Creek wildfires last summer, calling out what he describes as "poor decision-making and outdated approaches" by the wildfire service, according to a news release posted to his website Shuswap Passion.

“The BC Wildfire Service must change how it fights fires or more communities will be devastated this year and for years to come. Today we are presenting a petition signed by people who were impacted by wildfires that demands the government act quickly ahead of what is predicted to be another dangerous hot, dry summer," Cooperman said in the release.

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The news release doesn't say how many signatures the petition collected before it was presented to Premier David Eby and his cabinet ministers, but Cooperman's online petition gathered more than 2,200 before it closed in December.

The petition lists four demands for the wildfire service, including an expanded "initial attack system," which would water bomb fires early before they spread. The petition calls for a review of the planned burns in the Adams Lake and Gun Lake areas, along with a restored fire warden system.

The last demand in the petition is to collaborate with local contractors and landowners. This is something the wildfire service does, but those who are not already partnered with the wildfire service when an evacuation ordered is delivered are unlikely to be allowed in to work, if at all.

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Along with a planned burn that turned back toward homes in the Adams Lake area, evacuation orders and road blockades were a controversial component of the Bush Creek East wildfire response.

The Bush Creek East and McDougall Creek wildfires netted a combined $720 million in insurance-claimed damage.

Just how many Okanagan homes were destroyed by the McDougall Creek blaze isn't clear, but it accounted for $480 million in damage. In the Shuswap, 176 homes and other structures were destroyed, accounting for the remaining $240 million.

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