With hundreds of forest fires burning across B.C., the province’s annual budget for firefighting has again gone up in smoke.

A statement from the B.C. NDP, released last Wednesday, criticized the Liberal government for exceeding its forest firefighting budget every year since 2006.

“For the fifth straight year in a row, the B.C. Liberal government blew past its budget estimate for fighting forest fires,” read the statement.

The province budgeted $51.7 million for firefighting in 2010, the lowest estimate since the Liberals came to power in 2001.
Although the fire season has yet to end, that amount has already been exceeded.

Last year, the government budgeted $61.7 million for forest fires. The actual total spent in 2009 was $382.1 million, a difference of $320.4 million.

From 2002 onward, provincial firefighting cost estimates have hovered in the $55-million range, peaking in 2009. However, the statement noted, “since 2002, there have been only two fire seasons that have cost less than $60 million.”

In 2001, the NDP government put aside $85.7 million for wildfires.

Actual spending on firefighting since 2002 has exceeded the budgeted amount by nearly $897 million, even accounting for surpluses in 2002 and 2005 of $17.6 million and $8 million respectively.

Forests Ministry officials and Forests Minister Pat Bell have maintained that firefighting costs are impossible to predict from year to year, but the estimates are reasonable.

Fraser-Nicola NDP MLA Harry Lali could not be reached for comment.

The Wildfire Management Branch website stated Friday, “right now, 411 wildfires are burning in the province, 74 of which started over the last three days. Since April 1, crews around the province have responded to 1,272 wildfires, of which 513 have been caused by people. These fires have burned a total of 93,359 hectares, or 933 square kilometres.”