The province is committing an additional $25 million during the next two years to reduce the wildfire risk in and around communities.
The funding extends a provincial program that provided $37 million in funding that ran out recently.
The funding will continue to be administered by the Union of B.C. Municipalities.
"I hope local governments recognize the benefits of community wildfire protection plans and take advantage of this funding to make fuel management a priority in community planning," said B.C. Forests Minister Steve Thomson.
Since 2004, more than 230 community wildfire protection plans have been started or completed. Even if a community has completed a plan, it doesn't necessarily mean it has actually undertaken treatments, which includes removing dead trees, and cleaning up low branches, needles and woody debris that could potentially fuel a fire.
In the Interior, the extensive mountain pine beetle epidemic has heightened the fuel-loading problem.
Prince George -- which received a community forest licence several years ago -- has been able to undertake treatments to reduce the wildfire risk on the ground.
"B.C. communities at risk from wildfire appreciate the benefits of this program. With the high-cost of fuel treatment projects, the province is to be commended for increasing the funding available to communities," said UBCM president Barbara Steele.
While wildfires that impact human settlement are rare in Northern B.C., the impact of the beetle epidemic could change that.
Fires cut a wide swath through north and central B.C. last year, burning more than 300,000 hectares.
While the fire hot zone was located in the Southern Interior in 2009, in 2010 it moved farther north, fuelled by extremely dry conditions in the vast beetle-killed pine forests in this region.
Historically, wildfires have burned about 500,000 hectares of land in B.C. annually, however, that area has shrunk to an average of less than 100,000 hectares in recent years as the province fights fires.
This has altered the natural fire cycle and contributed to fuel buildup as forests age
