BCAA Employees Team Up for Wildfire Resiliency
BRITISH COLUMBIA: In 2022, citizens in the Province of British Columbia will have more opportunity than ever to take the proactive steps to ‘FireSmart’ their properties thanks to the British Columbia Automobile Association’s (BCAA) employees. In late 2021, BCAA employees made the decision to donate $17,700 through an employee giving initiative to the Forest Enhancement Society of BC (FESBC) to direct funds toward making FireSmart BC materials accessible to more British Columbians.
“Supporting communities is an important part of what we do at BCAA. In 2021, we wanted to give our employees more ways to give back and support causes they care about. We know the devastating impact wildfires have on communities, so when we invited our employees to vote for organizations to which we could donate, it’s no surprise that many of them chose FireSmart BC,” said Shawn Pettipas, Director Community Engagement for BCAA. “We are proud to support FireSmart BC’s work on wildfire prevention – their dedication to education and supporting communities to become more resilient is what makes their work unique and so important to our province.”
With last year’s many wildfires throughout the province, many communities were deeply impacted. Perhaps the best examples of the proactive wildfire risk reduction work done by private property owners and how that work saved important infrastructure was in the community of Logan Lake, located in the Southern Interior of the province, just 60 kilometres southwest of Kamloops.
“As the Mayor of Logan Lake, B.C.’s first FireSmart community, we have long been aware of the necessary proactive work we can all do to help better protect our properties and communities from the devastating effects of wildfire,” said Robin Smith, Mayor of Logan Lake. “In the summer of 2021, our community was in the pathway of a very large wildfire, and in large part due to the hard work that led to our 2013 Community Protection Achievement through FireSmart, firefighters were able to direct the fire away from homes. To learn that BCAA employees have generously chosen to direct their employee giving initiative to FireSmart BC means so many more British Columbians will have access to FireSmart BC resources to better protect their homes and communities too.”
For their commitment, the BC FireSmart Committee expresses its deepest appreciation to the employees of BCAA.
“On behalf of our entire Committee, we thank BCAA and their employees,” said Gord Pratt, Operations Manager of FESBC and a proud BC FireSmart committee member. “This donation is significant and will allow FireSmart BC to share resources and information with many more people which in turn will help them be better prepared for wildfire with proven steps to help protect their home, and their community, from wildfire.”
For more information or an interview:
Aleece Laird, Communications Liaison, FESBC | communications@fesbc.ca | 250.574.0221