Penticton-Summerland MLA Amelia Boultbee said she will do everything in her power to continue assisting the 13,000 Summerlanders who were evacuated as a result of the Bald Range Wildfire.
During a 30-minute presentation to the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen on Thursday, Boultbee said she wanted to “acknowledge the really incredible work that’s been done by the RDOS, staff members … I know it has been very trying with the great tragedy that has occurred here.”
While the fire has been declared as held and the boil water advisory has been almost completely lifted in and around Summerland and most residents with houses still standing have returned home, the economic recovery across the community “is going to take some time and that’s something that my office is committed to seeing its way through, (starting with) the short term, making sure peoples’ immediate needs are met,” she said.
There are a large number of residents who lost their homes who were not insured or under insured “and we’re looking to identify policy gaps and where the government could potentially step in and do more for those people.”
There were so many evacuations in such a short period of time that it created difficulties when more than 15,000 applications were filed for Emergency Support Services, Boultbee said, adding that the provincial government is working to help those who have not been unable to register for assistance.
“I want to thank the Premier’s office for agreeing to back date some of those eligibilities for those people.”
The local agricultural sector has been hit hard as many foreign workers were sent home as a result of the fire and this has been “devastating” for many local farmers, she said.
“We’re going to be working with emergency management and the Ministry of Agriculture to make sure that those folks are supported,” she said.
“For my part, as the local MLA, I’m going to be identifying problems on the ground and relaying anything to the government that has not been previously identified, whether it’s a challenge or policy gap.”
Summerland Mayor Doug Holmes thanked Boultbee for her support through the disaster.
“You were always just a phone call away and I appreciate that,” Holmes said. “I think we know you will continue to advocate for us during the recovery, so thank you.”
Director Riley Gettens said only eight of 81 homes in Faulder remain standing and she’s hoping the NDP government can take steps to provide financial relief as quickly as possible to those who lost their homes when it comes to water bills. She was also worried about well contamination from ash caused by the fire.
“We do need some help or kind of response and it needs to go quickly,” Gettens said, adding she hopes Boultbee can provide time lines for those seeking disaster financial assistance.
Boultbee said that due to the severity of damage in Faulder and Meadow Valley, it’s going to take a “co-ordinated, multi-Ministerial approach on this.”
This includes assistance with water wells, water systems, agricultural assistance and much more, she said.
The needs of residents in Faulder and Meadow Valley are unique because these are small, rural communities and there are already challenges with water quality there, said Boultbee.
Boultbee said technical reports will be needed to address water decontamination concerns and assess the environmental and health risks on properties where homes and interior materials were burned.
“We want people to be able to go home and rebuild, but there are some real logistical issues here that are not political,” she said. “We’re moving as quickly as we can to get those technical reports so that we can help folks.”
Boultbee said she will do what she can to speed up the process to get affected residents access to Disaster Relief Assistance funding from the provincial government.
Director Spencer Coyne said the entire South Okanagan region has been negatively impacted economically by the Bald Range fire and other wildfires. He asked Boultbee to advocate for the entire region when an economic recovery plan is developed in response to the disaster.
“The whole region has become economically impacted with the ongoing fire situation … the entire economy of the southern Interior right now has taken a slump because of these fires,” Coyne said.
“It has stifled our economy across the board, so please take that back to Victoria.”
Boultbee said she would take that message to the BCNDP leadership.
