Amends bylaw
qathet Regional District’s (qRD) board has amended the northside fire protection service area bylaw to exclude Tla’amin Nation lands.
At the February 7 regional board meeting, the motion indicated that the Tla’amin Lands within Southview and Klahanie lease lands are now served by the Tla’amin Fire Department.
According to a staff report, for many years, the northside fire protection service provided protection to Tla’amin leasehold properties as part of a service agreement.
In December, Tla’amin informed qRD that it did not desire to renew the fire service delivery portion of the agreement upon its expiry at the end of 2023, the report stated.
Offers program
The regional district will offer the provincial community wood smoke reduction program in 2024 with rebates available on a first-come, first-served basis. The BC Lung Association confirmed that qRD is the successful recipient of a $14,000 grant to be used toward the regional district’s wood smoke program.
The board included $10,250 in its 2024 solid waste management service budget, also for the program. A staff report indicated that the 2023 program provided 21 rebates for removal of uncertified woodburning appliances. These were replaced by 14 cleaner wood-burning appliances, four electric inserts and five electric heat pumps.
Confirming details
Staff will be directed to engage with Powell River Community Forest and BC Wildlife Service to confirm the necessary details for collaboration for fire department initial attack response during times of high wildfire hazard.
The community forest would own the wildfire response fire truck and make it available during times of high wildfire hazard for fire response within the region, according to a staff report.
The community forest does not have staffing for wildfire response, so it requested that qRD considers providing trained firefighters to crew the truck whenever appropriate during the summer months.
Supports resolution
Directors approved sending a resolution to the 2024 Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities convention regarding funding for public libraries in British Columbia.
The resolution called on the provincial government to recognize the evolving and challenging situation for public libraries and increase annual core funding for libraries to $30 million per year.
The resolution further stated that this figure increase on a yearly basis in keeping with the cost of living and inflationary pressures.
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