The tragic events in Fort McMurray illustrate the overwhelming devastation that can occur when a wildfire gets out of control near an urban interface.
At the time of writing this fire covered more than 500,000 hectares and total damages were estimated to be over $9 billion.
More than 80,000 people were evacuated and thousands of homes and businesses have been destroyed in one of the worst tragedies in Canadian history.
Over the last 10 years in British Columbia, we’ve seen an average of 2,000 wildfires each year resulting in more than 100,000 hectares of forested land being destroyed annually.
With the very warm and dry spring we are experiencing, we have already seen higher than usual risk assessments for this area from the BC Wildfire Service.
Questions that many of us in this community are now asking include:
• What are the risks for a wildfire in this region?
• What can we do to reduce the risk of losing our home to a fire?
To address these and other questions, a special FireSmart Seminar has been arranged for Sunday, June 12 from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Shuswap Lake Estates Lodge.
The FireSmart program has been developed by Partners in Protection in collaboration with the BC Forest Service, Emergency Management BC and the Office of the Fire Commissioner.
It is designed to help homeowners assess and manage their risks of property damage from a fire.
It can help you to significantly decrease your risk of fire damage and can improve the overall safety of our neighbourhoods.
The program will also provide standards to help homeowners to prevent new interface fires from starting.
Our Shuswap Fire Department will be on hand to display their equipment and apparatus, including the new structural protection unit that is designed to protect multiple homes in a fire.
You can have your specific questions addressed by any one of the many well-trained and knowledgeable volunteer firefighters.
The agenda for the seminar will include presentations, videos and question-and-answer sessions intended to educate residents about the things they can do to reduce the risk of fire damage to their properties.
Participants at this seminar will learn how to do their own home and site hazard assessments and how to FireSmart their properties to reduce fire risk and damages.
A FireSmart fire protection plan will also be reviewed.
Please make every effort to attend and participate in this very important community safety program.
With your participation you too can become FireSmart!
For more information, please call our Regional Fire Chief, Kenn Mount at 250-833-5945.
-Paul Demenok is the Area C Director for the Columbia Shuswap Regional District
