Firefighters in Britannia Beach won’t be spread so thin next time there is a wildfire, but the reduced workload will come with slightly increased taxes for residents.
The SLRD voted in favour of reducing the Britannia Beach Volunteer Firefighter Department service area in order to alleviate pressures the department has dealing with wildfires.
The bylaw will be effective at the start of next year.
BC Wildfire Services is expected to take responsibility for areas the BBVFD will stop covering.
“The objective of reducing the current service area is to reduce the impact of wild-land fires on the operations of the BBVFD while not removing structural fire protection from any existing improvements/structures,” reads an information report presented to the directors of the SLRD.
Staff also said in the report that BBVFD is trained and experienced in dealing with structural fires, but not so much with wildfires.
Dealing with wildfires could expose the department to “unfamiliar risks” and “remote and potentially unsafe working conditions,” the report added.
Furthermore, BBVFD could be spread too thin.
In one case, firefighters had to respond to a wildfire more than 20 kilometres away from the department.
If another call had happened within Britannia Beach or Furry Creek at the time, it could’ve taken too long for firefighters to respond, the report said.
“Wildland fire response is time and resource intensive and diminishes the BBVFD’s capacity to be able to respond to other calls in the service area,” the document said.
Under the new bylaw, BBVFD’s current service area will be reduced to exclude several types of lands south of the Porteau Road overpass.
These would be: privately-owned parcels that have no existing improvements or structures and that are not currently proposed for development; Crown provincial lands that have no existing improvements or structures and unsurveyed Crown lands.
The staff report said land that has structures or improvements will not be taken out of the service area.
A reduced service area, however, comes with a cost.
Because the amount of taxable land in the area will be reduced, those who fall under the reduced service area may have to pay more so the regional district can maintain its income levels.
The tax rate for this year was $0.4242 for every $1,000 of property value.
Staff estimate the tax rate for next year, when the bylaw will be effective, will be $0.4472 for every $1,000 of property value.
Taking into account that the SLRD estimates the average residential property in the area amounts to about $1.05 million, this would increase taxes by about $24.13 per year.
