Dead brush and trees in the Lantzville Foothills could be the kindling for a wildfire in the district.
In 2010, the District of Lantzville participated in the provincial Community Wildfire Protection Plans program and discovered that the Foothills area, on public and crown land, presented an extreme threat of a fire along the border of the community.
The area includes the area at the west end of Lorenzen Lane, at the south end of Normarel Drive and east of Sywash Ridge Road and at the south end of Stone Road.
During Monday night’s council meeting, councillors discussed whether to apply for funding through the Strategic Wildfire Prevention Initiative to conduct fuel management, which provides money for communities to remove dead brush, trees, branches and other debris that could feed a fire.
Council referred the issue back to staff to determine if the money could be used to purchase and install alternative fire-fighting equipment such as fire hydrants or additional firefighting trucks.
Lantzville Mayor Jack de Jong said there are no fire hydrants in the Lantzville Foothill area, which means the district’s volunteer fire department would have to use the tanker truck to put out a blaze.
“We would be hustling back and forth with the tanker truck and that’s no way to face a serious fire,” he said.
De Jong said council expects to hear back from staff quickly because the deadline to apply for the grant is Oct. 5.
