Today, Doug Donaldson, Minister of Forests and Lands, announced the launch of a new program that will help out small businesses who were impacted by the B.C. Wildfires.

Donaldson said that the effects of the Wildfires will be felt by communities across the province for a long time and so, through the Red Cross, they will make available emergency funds for small business owners to give them some relief.

The BC Wildfire Service reports another busy week for crews on the ground fighting these fires. There are currently 162 fires burning, with 12 new fires that started yesterday. The total land burned is now at 729,000 hectares.

Red Cross says that they will be starting to take applications for the emergency funding on Monday, August 14th, and will process those applications as quickly as possible.

Small business owners can apply for funding online at the Red Cross website before the closing date of October 1st.