Parksville council has endorsed a Community Wildfire Resiliency Plan — the first step towards integrating its recommendations into city plans and policies. Community Wildfire Resiliency Plans include wildfire threat mapping and follow the BC FireSmart framework and provincial wildfire risk reduction objectives, according to a report by Fire Chief Marc Norris, of Parksville Fire Rescue. The city hired Frontera Forest Solutions to develop the plan, using FireSmart grant funding. The plan found Parksville “is at an overall low risk of devastating wildfire igniting within the city, however pockets of medium and high-risk locations do exist within the city’s wildland urban interface.” The biggest risk was wildfires burning in “high-risk areas” could carry smoke or embers into Parksville. Vulnerabilities identified were seasonal increases in fire-related activity linked to human behaviour, including deliberate ignitions and an increased risk near people and infrastructure, potentially in areas in which ignitions are harder to access or detect.