Hundreds of municipal fire crews descended on the south Okanagan this weekend for a large scale training exercise to help them get ready for wildfire season.
The training comes as Okanagan fire seasons are becoming more intense and prolonged, which is putting pressure on local fire departments to step up if provincial resources are strained.
More than 200 firefighters from 26 jurisdictions around the province attended the weekend training symposium hosted by the Penticton Fire Department to hone their wildfire fighting skills.
Training exercises included crews using drip torches to light prescribed burns on the forest floor so firefighters could practice building guards and removing fuel around the base of the fire, creating a line of containment.
WATCH: Residents warned of smoke, flames during simulated wildfire training exercise near Penticton
Knowing first hand the importance of being prepared for wildfire season after living through a catastrophic wildfire, motivated Greyback Mountain resident Marc Hubbard to allow the firefighters to use his property for structural protection training.
In the early 1990s, the Garnet Fire consumed 5,500 hectares east of Penticton and destroyed 18 homes, sparing Hubbard’s.
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“It was a scare,” Hubbard recalled.
He agrees this weekend’s cross training is critical with another potentially destructive fire season just around the corner.
“It’s not going to get better in this climate change, it’s going to get worse: hotter, drier, more fires,” Hubbard said.