A wealth of information about being FireSmart can be found at your fingertips

 

When it comes to having information about wildfire safety, more is better. In simple terms: the more you know, the more likely you are to succeed in keeping your home and family safe. That may mean retrofitting your house with fire-resistant products such as siding and roofing or planting fire-resistant species and keeping your yard tidy of debris.

In this week’s installment of our series featuring the Whitecourt Fire Department crew, Deputy Fire Chief Wayne Andrusiak would like to introduce you to a website that is jam-packed full of information on this very important topic. Firesmartcanada.ca is a comprehensive resource for everyone including industry personnel, community leaders, residents, and even fellow firefighters.

“In Whitecourt, we live, work, and play in the wildland urban interface environment and we want people to consider that in all aspects of their daily lives,” explained Wayne, adding that the website allows residents to have full access to tools and information regarding FireSmart, and allows them to learn more about it whenever it is convenient for them.

“There is a wealth of information there including a resource library which includes articles, brochures, and manuals about FireSmart practices.” One of the manuals available on the site is for landscaping which will soon come in handy as residents start preparing their yards for spring. Found under “Resources Library” and then under “Manuals,” the 24-page, full-colour document details ways that residents can landscape their yards while remaining FireSmart.

The guide explains what fire-resistant plants are and the differences between them and non-fire-resistant plants. For example: the characteristics of a high-flammable plant are that it will contain fine, dry dead material within it, that it will contain volatile waxes or oils, that its leaves are aromatic, that is has a resinous sap with a strong odour, and that it is loose paper bark. Having any, or multiple, of these characteristics would make a plant far more likely to catch on fire which is not something you would want planted directly beside your home.

As for fire-resistant plants, they tend to have moist, supple leaves, have little dead material, have a water-like sap with little to no odour, and have a low amount of sap or resin material. If you are looking to add greenery in flower beds up against your home, stick with fire-resistant species to avoid issues. As you may have learned from previous articles from the department, the embers that precede a fire can reach out up to two kilometres and blanket an area like snow. Having fire-resistant plants and following other FireSmart practices will give you a better chance of saving your home.

The site also has information for industry leaders. “If you work in the patch, there is the FireSmart Guidebook for the Oil and Gas Industry. It has wildfire prevention and industry best practices,” said Andrusiak. The guidebook introduces ways that can help enhance personnel safety during a wildfire event, enhance emergency response capability, mitigate economic impact during shutdowns, mitigate infrastructure loss or damage, and reduce liability for industry-caused ignitions. It also features an assessment process.

Take full advantage of the resources that have been compiled for you by visiting the firesmartcanada.ca site with your family and learning new ways to be FireSmart. “If we all do our part we can reduce our community’s risk of wildfire. And, remember, FireSmart begins at home,” said Andrusiak.