Wildfire threat to your home can be reduced
Wildfires across the country are forcing people to evacuate their homes, leaving them uncertain if they will still be standing when they are allowed to return,
But taking simple steps around your home can dramatically increase its resistance to damage by wildfire. So it was timely that along with spraying the fire hose and sitting in the fire truck, families who came to West Kelowna Fire Rescue’s FireSmart Family Day learned how to reduce the risk of losing their house in a wildfire.
Weston Davis, 4, and his sister Vienna, 2, were happily munching on cookies while taking a break from the activities with their mom, Shanna.
Like many other children at the event, Weston’s favourite activity was spraying the fire hose.
He also got to sit in the fire truck and learned to use the binoculars to see if there were any fires in the nearby hills.
Along with the fun, there were lessons learned. Shanna said they would be checking their yard for dry debris and clearing it out, as well as making a grab-and-go kit in case the family has to evacuate.
Bryce Stirling, who has taken on the new positions of wildfire prevention specialist and FireSmart co-ordinator at West Kelowna Fire Rescue, said they’ve learned the biggest risk to houses is sparks lighting it on fire, not the fire itself.
According to the FireSmart B.C. website, embers can travel up to two kilometres ahead of a wildfire by wind or energy from the fire and ignite materials on or near a home, causing severe damage or total home loss.
People can reduce the chance of wind-blown embers igniting their house by choosing noncombustible materials when building or renovating. The big thing is to look at the 1.5 metre zone around your house, said Stirling.
Clear vegetation and combustible debris in the immediate area and cover the soil with gravel, brick or concrete.
Cleaning pine needles out of gutters makes a big impact, as does clearing combustible debris from the corners and cracks outside your home and making sure the area under your deck is clear.
In the area from 1.5 to 10 metres from the home, planting fire-resistant plants and materials will increase the chance of your home surviving a wildfire.
Making your yard more resistant to fire doesn’t mean you have to tear out all the plants and trees.
Instead, choose trees, plants and shrubs that are less combustible. Coniferous trees are highly flammable, while deciduous trees are less so.
Cedar hedges are popular in the Okanagan, but there are plenty of alternatives said Melba Reed with the Okanagan Master Gardeners who had a booth set up with examples of FireSmart plants.
Instead of cedar hedges, people can plant cotoneaster, privet or caragana, which has been recommended by the Okanagan Xeriscape Society. Keep shrubs like junipers some distance away from the house as well as they will burn.
There are hundreds of choices such as lilacs, spirea or Japanese spurge people can plant near their house without being a danger to your home, Reed said.
To drive their point home, the West Kelowna fire department gave a shocking demonstration by setting fire to 10 cedars they had brought in just the day before. The cedars were set up in front of a panel with vinyl siding on one side and Hardy plank, a cement fibreboard, on the other to show the difference building materials make.
It didn’t take long before the row of shrubs were engulfed in flames, with the spectators behind the caution tape feeling the heat from the blaze on their faces.
Ethan Stokes, 12, used his watch to time how long it took for the cedars to burn completely.
According to his watch, it took just 2:15.26. “It was pretty fast,” he said.
Stokes had come to FireSmart Family Day with his family and had a bag full of information to take home.
After learning about how to protect their home from wildfire, Ethan’s sister, Azlynn, 10, said they would be picking up the pine needles in their yard when they got home. “Except they’re pokey,” she added.
In the little over two minutes it took for the cedars to burn, the vinyl siding melted and the plywood behind it caught fire. The Hardy plank didn’t burn.
For Kim Jarvis, who lives in Glenrosa and had been evacuated because of wildfire a few years ago, the cedar hedge demonstration reaffirmed what she already knew.
“That’s why we’re getting rid of all the cedars on our property,” she said.
West Kelowna will be offering FireSmart grants again this year through the City of West Kelowna to help people make their homes less susceptible to wildfire.
There will be an extensive list of activities that could qualify for a grant, including cleaning your gutters, removing bark mulch and taking down trees.
“The junipers and the cedars are big offenders here. They collect all that dead material underneath and they’re really easy ignition spots that will continue on to the house,” said Stirling.
The Peachland and Lake Country Fire Departments also offer grant programs for people who get a fire assessment done through the fire department and then act on the recommendations.
Peachland also offers vouchers for people to take their yard waste to the West Kelowna transfer station.
Because of its larger population, Kelowna finds it more efficient to offer a community chipping program each May, said Tara Bergeson with the City of Kelowna. It provides free curbside removal and chipping of highly flammable plant and shrub materials for Kelowna residents. FireSmart assessments are also available.
When people take simple steps like moving a wood pile away from their house or keeping their grass mowed and green, it means the fire department has a better chance of saving their house if a fire does come into their neighbourhood, said West Kelowna Fire Chief Jason Brolund.
“It could be something as simple as not having one of those coconut fibre mats at your front door,” Brolund added. “We’ve seen it before.
These are the things that make the difference between a house burning down during a fire and one not.”
What kind of fire season does Brolund see ahead?
“If we have a cool, rainy June, we’ll have what we call a typical fire season,” said Brolund. “There may be some fires but nothing of any major significance. But you know if the warm weather comes and stays, with the effects of climate change and the longer summers, we will never be away from a time that we won’t have a significant wildfire season on the horizon.”
The heat wave in May caused Brolund concern. Since then, there has been some rain, so things are nice and green right now. “That doesn’t mean it can’t change very quickly,” said Brolund.
“Regardless of what we see, we’re ready. And we ask the same thing of the community.”