Research indicates applying FireSmart principles can reduce the risk of a home being destroyed in a wildfire by up to 90 per cent, but many might wonder where to start.
FireSmart Wildfire Mitigation Assessments are meant to provide homeowners the information they need to begin the process of FireSmarting a home and property.
Travis Flanagan is the Cariboo Regional District's (CRD) FireSmart coordinator. He is helping homeowners within the CRD by keying in on vulnerabilities when it comes to wildfire.
Recently, Flanagan allowed us to follow along as he assessed a home, and helped educate us on the process.
To get an assessment of a property, the first step begins even before Flanagan arrives.
Those within the CRD fill out a request for an assessment by going to: https://firesmartbcplatform.ca/request-home-inspection
The form takes only a moment to complete and then you will be contacted to set up an on-site assessment.
Then, an assessor will come to visit the property and will take a detailed look at the three key zones for FireSmart mitigation:
- The immediate zone within 1.5 m of a building
- The intermediate zone, 1.5 m to 10 m away
- The extended zone, 10 m to 30 m away
These three zones make up the home ignition zone, where breaks in flammable materials and reducing vulnerabilities has the most impact.
While the assessment may result in a long list of things to address to help reduce your property's risk, the thing it will also do is help identify important places to focus on and the highest risk areas.
In the free FireSmart guide, the advice is simply to start from the home and work your way outward.
"There's no timeline, FireSmart's not about having it done on Sunday, it's a long process, taking little steps to get in the right direction," said Flanagan.
When Flanagan does an assessment for a property owner, he starts with some basic questions on fire preparedness and whether or not they have a plan in case an emergency does happen.
Then, over about two hours, he takes a look at a home and property within the three different zones of potential FireSmart mitigation. He really dives deep into what can make the difference to having a property survive when there is a wildfire in the area.
Afterwards, a link to access your detailed and home-specific FireSmart assessment arrives via email, giving you places to start and opportunities to improve your property's chances of withstanding a wildfire.
One of the takeaways from the assessment was that despite many homes in B.C. often being near trees, in the end, it is often the little things which can make a really big difference.
Many structures impacted by wildfire are vulnerable to the ember showers from wildfires, and embers can travel long distances, so it isn't a matter of cutting down every tree.
Instead, small things like removing fine fuels which an ember could ignite, removing highly flammable landscaping materials from next to the building and installing metal screens over openings which could allow embers access within a structure can make a big difference.
Those small things just might help you sleep a little sounder this fire season.
For more information on FireSmart, go to: https://firesmartbc.ca/
