By Tanya Cronin

Homeowners urged to create ‘fire smart’ properties

Jun 5, 2018 | 4:54 PM

KAMLOOPS — It’s a risk in every community, and we’ve seen how wildfires can spread quickly into neighbourhoods. The impact of a wildfire on homes can be devastating, last year’s fire season was a prime example of that. In an effort to avoid a devastating situation from unfolding, Kamloops Fire Rescue is urging homeowners to be ‘fire smart’ – clear away combustibles, and anything that could add fuel to a fire.
 

The flames roared through with intensity never seen before in the community. The Fort McMurray Wildfire forced the largest wildfire evacuation in Canadian history, 85,000 people displaced, more than 2500 homes destroyed.

“You don’t have to be right up against the forest to be in danger, it’s houses like in this area here where you can see about three or four blocks away from the forest, these houses are just as vulnerable,” says Lyle Weninger, Kamloops Fire Rescue life safety educator. 

In the hills of Juniper Ridge, homes are nestled in trees and brush, backing onto trails and quiet forest. An ideal spot to live, but like many neighbourhoods in Kamloops, being surrounded by timber comes with fire risk.    

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“50% of the homes in fires burn from the falling embers, the fire embers and sparks are landing in the bushes beside people’s houses, the cedar bushes and the junipers, and that’s what’s actually lighting their houses on fire.” 

Kamloops Fire Rescue is urging homeowners to fire proof their properties, removing all combustibles around the first 10 metres of your home, and clearing bushes and trees that could easily burn.    

“Make sure their gutters are clear of pine needles and that stuff, anything under your deck that’s accumulated under the stairs, pull out the cedar bushes and junipers and put in some fire safe landscaping.” 

If you’re doing renovations, be fire smart and opt for fire resistant materials. 

“Fire resistant shingles on the roof, hardy siding that’s resistant to fire as well, so if you’re going through renos put in those fire safe materials and your home can be less vulnerable to fire than other homes can be,” says Weninger.

The City of Kamloops is also working to clear any wildfire fuels in various neighbourhoods, spacing trees, lifting branches, and getting rid of the coarse, woody debris on the forest floors.

It’s been less than a year since BC experienced one of the worst wildfire seasons on record. In July, the Elephant Hill Fire erupted, sweeping through the Boston Flats Mobile Home Park just west of Ashcroft, wiping out nearly everything in its path. Ashen ruins of homes, with nothing more than just a few left standing amid the devastation.

As the weather warms back up, tinder dry conditions will return. Homeowners need to be prepared, take preventative measures and stay vigilant, to avoid what could become a deadly situation.