B.C. First Nations scorched the provincial government Monday by demanding better fire prevention for aboriginal communities caught in the middle of vast stands of beetle-killed timber.
Of 103 such communities in B.C.'s wildfire region, the B.C. First Nations Forestry Council said only 39 in place have strategies in place to deal with the threat and none have been able to remove enough dead wood to create a firebreak.
Council president and Chief Bill Williams of the Squamish Nation said the group drafted a wildfire plan two years ago. His group estimates it would cost $135 million to clear the required timber to create a buffer between those communities and the woods.
The province, said Williams, never responded, and a federal government program that provided some funding is now over.
Forests minister Pat Bell dismissed as "nonsense" allegations from the NDP last week that the Liberals have "abandoned the most vulnerable communities" and insisted the government worked very closely with them on wildfire protection.
