New equipment for fire department will help further Firesmart projects

 

 

The town recently purchased a new mower for the fire department which will allow them to mow in areas they haven’t been able to access until now. The land in and around Whitecourt has a lot of different terrains and varying degrees of slope, and those factors have kept Firesmart summer students away from specific areas.

 

“The reason the town and the fire department purchased it is because it can mow up to a 30-degree slope and it has eight wheels which means it’s low impact on the ground. That means it doesn’t sink or get stuck,” explained Fire Chief Brian Wynn. One of the first areas that the crew utilized the mower was in Centennial Park along the power line.

The area is regularly used by off-road vehicles during summer months, and at the end of July, the grass was roughly five feet tall. If it isn’t cut before the snow falls, it becomes a match in the spring once the snow melts needing only a spark to set it off. The Firesmart crew will be working in the area and throughout the community until roughly the end of September.

 

Chief Wynn encourages residents who live along greenspaces to mow further out beyond their property lines to wherever they feel comfortable. “The town won’t be able to mow behind every residence in town. Last year we encouraged residents to clean the grass as far as they could into the bush because Firesmart begins at home.”

 

He said if residents keep the grass short it helps keep their properties safer. “Whatever you can do to protect your house is going to be the most critical thing you can do if a wildland fire comes into Whitecourt. If every resident did what they could to be Firesmart including the exterior of their buildings, cutting down on shrubbery around their houses, and didn’t use combustible mulch, then we would have a lot higher success rate of residences not catching on fire.”

 

Chief Wynn said he plans to mow high-risk areas twice a season so that the grass is short in the spring when it matters most. Aside from being Firesmart and lowering the possibility that fire could access homes, cutting the tall grass is also safer for residents for another reason. “When you’re driving an off-road vehicle through 5-foot grass, or walking in it, you can’t see debris, potholes, or different slopes. It’s really risky in that sense so if we start mowing earlier then it will be safer for everyone.”

 

Chief Wynn hopes that county residents will get onboard with Firesmart practices especially when it comes to having tall grasses on their properties. A nearby fire could spew millions of embers forward, and tall grass will light up very quickly and act as a wick leading right to the house. “Embers are non-judgemental. They will land anywhere and either it burns, or it doesn’t. Simple as that. If you were to throw a match, would it burn?”

 

To learn more about what you can do to be Firesmart visit www.firesmartcanada.ca.