Whereas British Columbia communities have been experiencing the burning of brush piles that create smoke that lingers low to the surface; And whereas the burning of brush piles is sometimes authorized based on the venting index established in distant centres; And whereas the establishing of the venting index does not always represent the venting conditions in the area around the affected communities thus affecting the health and safety of the residents: Therefore be it resolved that the Province of BC through the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy develop more venting indexes that would be representative of the venting conditions in all areas of British Columbia.
Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy Environment Canada maintains a system of 26 Venting Index Zones with 42 computer generated values. The Ministry will continue to work with Environment Canada to encourage weather forecasters to manually adjust the 42 computer-generated values to improve the accuracy of the Venting Index. Recognizing that the Venting Index does not always represent the venting conditions in communities, the Ministry encourages forest sector operators to take advantage of Custom Venting Index forecasts that are available from meteorologists in the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development and from the private sector for a fee. Use of Custom Venting Index forecasts generally increase the number of days when burning can be conducted while reducing the potential for smoke impacting communities.