BC Government stumbled badly as Wildfire Season accelerated last week

Premier Horgan will no doubt this week have to address the province's
stumbles out of the start of WildFire Season in BC
(Screen shot from recent BC Gov't information presentation)

The destruction of much of the town of Lytton and surrounding areas last week in the first of what has been a rapidly expanding start to wildfire season has seen the provincial government come under some strong criticism. 

With those in the heart of the wildfire situation observing that for the first 18 hours of the emergency they were on their own; with little guidance, information or assistance available from the Horgan NDP government.

The strongest condemnation of how the NDP government handled the Lytton fires coming from First Nation leaders in the region who shared their concerns with a range of news services once they had attended to the immediate emergency of ensuring their people were safe.

BC's response to First Nations members fleeing Lytton fire 'woefully inadequate': Leader
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'In the first 14 hours, we were alone': First Nations leader blasts BC government over wildfire response

Making things worse for the government, was some follow up information that outlined how residents impacted by the fires could apply for assistance related to livestock; a government dispatch that did not sit very well with the First Nations leaders who questioned the government's priorities.

As reports of at least two deaths related to the fire came out, the backlash to the government's mishandling of the early hours of the Lytton fire grew, leaving Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth to admit over the weekend that the government wildfire response had identified 'gaps in protocols'

BC admits communications with First Nations during Lytton fire 'didn't live up to expectations'

Beyond the Premier and his senior ministers, also Missing In Action as the wildfires began to spread and continued to consume forests and grassland was the Parliamentary Secretary for Emergency Planning, North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice, who still has yet to even make note of the wildfire situation through either her Social Media stream, or Constituency website.

Though the MLA did offer a reminder of the potential for emergency situations earlier in mid June, sharing some advice by way of a short twitter message.

Ms. Rice's feeds which for the most part in recent months have featured mainly positive accounts of good deeds by the NDP and social commentary on current events, has offered no information or advice during the ongoing infernos in BC for those dealing with what has seemingly set the province on a path towards a very concerning summer period.

The NDP government began to get back on the right foot post Canada Day, but the lack of quick attention to the situation marks another chapter in some horrible messaging from the Premier and his government ministers in recent weeks.

Vancouver Sun writer Vaughn Palmer laid out the Premier's troubles related to his recent remarks on the deaths of British Columbians during the heatwave with a column that rightly took the Premier to task and noted that the damage control teams had to move fast.

History it seems replayed itself just a few short days after the Premiers latest incident of fumbled messaging.

As the Sun's top political writer noted in his piece, the Government wanted a Victory lap on COVID and took one, while remaining somewhat tone deaf to the serious health situation created by the heatwave.

Now in the Race to combat the Wildfires, the NDP have finally made it onto the track, but they are far, far behind the people that they were supposed to be helping.

You can keep up with how the province's fire fighters are faring with the increasing number of situations currently underway through the BC Wildfire Service website, which features an interactive map of the current fires.

For updates on notes related to the Northwest see our archive page.