Fire-wary residents told to fireproof own homes
Fire-wary residents of a strata complex next to a forest have been told their own properties present more of a risk.
Wooden fences, cedar hedges and outbuildings that extend beyond property lines represent significant combustible hazards at the Huntsfield Green development in West Kelowna, fire officials say.
“The cedar hedges and wooden fences between homes posed more of a threat to the neighbourhood than the forest itself,” Brent Watson, assistant West Kelowna Fire Rescue chief, writes in a report to city council.
For more than 10 years, some residents of Huntsfield Green on Horizon Drive have complained to West Kelowna authorities about what they believed to be the high fire risk posed by trees on an adjacent, privately owned property along Faulkner Creek.
Officials from the city and the Ministry of Forests have inspected the situation three times and concluded the residents’ fears are overblown given the nature of the West Kelowna landscape.
“The reality is that Huntsfield Green is one of many neighbourhoods in our community at risk from wildfire, but by no means the worst,” Watson says.
Private property owners, like the one who owns land along the creek, cannot be compelled to thin out trees because of a perceived fire risk. Some Huntsfield Green residents have campaigned unsuccessfully for the city to buy the forested property in question, in the belief the city would then undertake firemitigation work.
A 2016 city-wide fire hazard study concluded Huntsfield Green is at “moderate” risk of a wildfire, like many other neighbourhoods in West Kelowna.
In their dealings with the Huntsfield Green residents, West Kelowna officials have encouraged them to focus on what they can do to better fireproof their own properties.
These measures have included cleaning up “significant” fuels like bush and low tree limbs from within the strata development. As a result, Huntsfield Green now qualifies for recognition from Firesmart Canada, an organization that encourages best practices in fireproofing homes and neighbourhoods.