Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPP)

The Community Wildfire Protection Plan Program (CWPP) assists local governments in identifying the risks of wildfire to their community as well as opportunities to reduce those risks. The purpose of a CWPP is to identify the wildfire risks within and surrounding a community, to describe the potential consequences if a wildfire was to impact the community, and to examine possible ways to reduce the wildfire risk.

The Strategic Wildfire Prevention Initiative (SWPI) is a suite of funding programs managed through the Strategic Wildfire Prevention Working Group – including the First Nations’ Emergency Services Society (FNESS), Ministry of Forests, Lands & Natural Resource Operations (MFLNRO) and the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM). Funding is provided by the Province of BC and is administered by UBCM. The initiative supports communities to mitigate risk from wildfire in the wildland urban interface. The Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) is any area where combustible wildland fuels (vegetation) are found adjacent to homes, farm structures, other outbuildings or infrastructure.

For the purpose of the SWPI, the WUI is the area within 2 kilometres of a community with a minimum density of 6 structures per square kilometre. The Strategic Wildfire Prevention Initiative includes the following funding streams:
• Development or update of Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPP)
• Development of fuel management prescriptions
• Operational fuel treatments, including maintenance treatments
• Fuel management demonstration projects • SWPI FireSmart Planning grants

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