Black Press
VICTORIA – The B.C. government is spending $3.5 million a day to fight forest fires, with the total for the year past $106 million and headed higher.
Finance Minister Mike de Jong asked B.C. residents to take all possible precautions and observe campfire bans through August. Forest fire spending is already approaching totals for the last two years. Highs in the past decade are $382 million in 2009 and $371 million in 2003, when fires damaged Kelowna, McLure and areas around Ashcroft.