Let’s Be FireSmart: Protecting Our Community
The FireSmart Canada Neighbourhood Recognition Program helps us live safely alongside nature. By focusing on your home and the immediate area around it, you can create a fire-resistant zone that protects your property from moving flames and wind-driven embers.
Protect your home this season with these essential FireSmart steps:
1. Create a "Fire-Free Zone" (0–1.5 Metres)
The first 1.5 metres around your home should be free of all flammable materials.
- Clear the Perimeter: Remove easily ignited fuels, including bark mulch, dried leaves, and debris.
- Maintain Your Roof: Keep roofs and gutters clear of needles, twigs, and leaves. Make gutter cleaning a part of your annual spring routine.
- Check Your Roofing: If you have untreated cedar shakes, consider upgrading to Class A asphalt or metal roofing, or install a rooftop sprinkler system.
2. Manage Your "Home Ignition Zone" (1.5–10 Metres)
This zone includes your home and any attached wooden decks. The goal is to remove "fuel bridges" that carry fire to your door.
- Relocate Firewood: Move stacked wood, mulch, or building materials at least 10 metres away from all structures.
- Vegetation Maintenance: Thin and prune spruce, pine, and cedar trees. Ensure no branches are touching your house.
- Pruning: For any remaining evergreen trees, prune low-hanging branches up to a height of 2 metres.
- Clean Under Decks: Rake out dried needles and leaves from under decks. For the best protection, skirt decks and structures with 3mm wire mesh or solid wood sheathing to keep embers out.
3. Around the Yard & Community
- Fire Pits: Use an 8–12mm wire mesh screen over fire pits and maintain a 1-metre fire-resistant strip (gravel or dirt) around the perimeter.
- Lawn Care: Keep grass mowed to 10cm or less to reduce "fine fuel" build-up.
- Community Management: Work together to remove dead or fallen trees in wooded areas to lower the overall fire risk.
- Be Prepared: Consider investing in a residential sprinkler kit and participate in local wildfire training initiatives.
FireSmart is a shared responsibility. By taking these small steps today, we build a more resilient community for tomorrow.
TAKE ACTION TODAY!
Download the official FireSmart Canada guides to help you assess your property and prepare for wildfire season.