The area of Fort St. John as well as northeastern B.C. is currently served by the Prince George fire centre. The wildfires up north have grown substantially in numbers in the recent past and are becoming increasingly dangerous and more out of control.

The aerial fire suppression and support aircraft from Prince George is no longer sufficient at protecting such a large area as they must choose which fires are of priority. When aircraft are being used to fight fires they are very effective, but they have to refuel and refill their water or fire retardant, if Fort St. John became a fire centre the planes would have a much shorter flight to rearm and get back out to the fire.

The fire season has only just begun and many people have already had to evacuate their homes or are on alert to do so soon. This is a necessary change that is long overdue, Fort St. John has the capacity to become a fire centre and we already have the Rhinos (our wildfire fighters) as well as the initial attack firefighters/smoke jumpers. Becoming a fire centre would lessen the area that Prince George has to protect, and could allow for a faster response time for aircraft to respond to fires in the northeastern region of British Columbia as well as improve wildfire fighting coordination.

If you support this change please share this with your friends and family!

https://www.change.org/FSJwildfirecentre