Canadian Forest Products Ltd. (Canfor) is suing the province over what it alleges was a negligent and inadequate firefighting response to a 2010 wildfire near Vanderhoof.
A statement of claim filed June 15 in BC Supreme Court claims that the fire occurred on June 18, 2010, approximately 30 kilometres southwest of Vanderhoof. It states that Canfor and its contractors carried out fire control and suppression efforts during the evening of June 18, including building a fire guard.
It claims that, also that evening, the Ministry of Forests and Range deployed water bombers to drop water and fire retardant on the fire. However, it alleges that those efforts didn’t extinguish the fire.
It further alleges that, the following morning, the ministry didn’t take “any or, alternatively adequate” steps to control and suppress the fire.
The court document contends that in the early afternoon of June 19, 2010, the fire jumped the fire guards built by Canfor.
“The fire continued to burn out of control until or on or about [June 28, 2010], destroying standing timber, plantations and felled and branched timber that had been harvested in the area on behalf of Canfor,” it claims.
The statement of claim alleges that the ministry “caused or contributed” to the spread of the fire by failing:
- to provide a timely fire response, control and/or suppression efforts;
- to use adequate care in its fire response, control and/or suppression efforts;
- to marshal and deploy sufficient resources, in terms of personnel and/or equipment, in a timely manner in order to fight the fire;
- to provide timely and/or adequate aerial water bombing to control and/or suppress the fire; and
- to provide the necessary personnel to control and/or suppress the fire.
“As a result of the ministry’s negligence in failing to take reasonable steps to extinguish, control and/or suppress the fire, the fire spread and caused loss and/or damage which would otherwise not have occurred,” the statement of claim alleges.
Canfor is suing for damages.
None of these allegations has been proven in court.
