Forest Fires Forest Fire Interface Wildland urban interface or Forest Fire interface refers to the zone of transition between unoccupied land, usually Crown Forest and human development. The term and attention to the issue gain significant momentum after the fires of 2003 which was the worst ever for forest fires in British Columbia. Abnormally hot, dry weather resulted in over 2,500 wildfire starts over a vast area, mostly in the Interior of the province. Of particular importance in 2003 was the number of properties that were destroyed by fire in the Interface zone. Fires that year consumed 334 homes and many businesses, and forced the evacuation of over 45,000 people. The total cost of the Firestorm is estimated at $700 million. After that fire season, The Firestorm 2003 Provincial Review was established by the provincial government to evaluate the overall response to the emergency and make recommendations for improvement in time for the next fire season. The findings and recommendations were addressed to all levels of government, Including Federal, Provincial, Regional and Municipal. Two of the more important recommendations made through the report were: · The provincial government should undertake a series of fuel treatment pilot projects in cooperation with municipal and regional governments in locations of high interface fire risk to demonstrate and prove the social, economic, and ecological costs and benefits of fuel treatments.
· Municipalities within fire prone areas should formally adopt the FireSmart standard for community protection both for private and public property. At a minimum, this standard should be applied to all new subdivision developments.
Since 2003 many local communities and the Regional District have made progress towards development of Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPP) based on the FireSmart principles. Nelson, Kaslo, Rossland, and Castlegar have all completed interface treatments.
Many of the recommendations in the Community Wildfire Protection Plans have been implemented over the past three years. The RDCK has done over 15 fuel treatments in areas throughout the RDCK. Many rural and municipal fire departments now have sprinkler protection trailers. A number of fire hazard signs have and are being erected in municipalities. FireSmart concerns have been identified in RDCK subdivision bylaws. To report a Wildfire Call 1-800-663-5555 (*5555 on most cellular networks) |
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Fire Smart To
learn more about the FireSmart you can access the manual at the
Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Management – Wildfire
Management Branch website here http://bcwildfire.ca/ If you would like help in assessing your property based on the Firesmart Principals please contact the Bonnigton Youth Green Team at bonniyouthgreen2011@gmail.com One of the youth would be happy in helping you review your interface zone.
Video on FireSmart |
Did You Know · That on average 48% of Wildfires are caused by Humans and 52% are caused by Lightning strikes. · Crowning forest fires often spread at up to 5.5 kilometres per hour, with spotting as far as 2 kilometres ahead. Wind blown grass fires can spread at speeds up to 8.5 kilometres per hour. · Most of the Forest above the Bonnigton residential area burned up between 1920-1940. Fire is a natural way for Forests to clean up debris and regenerate new forest so it will likely happen again. When?? · The fires in Slave Lake this spring claimed 374 properties & Lesser Slave Lake had 59 destroyed – around 8,000 people were evacuated · New
Campfire restrictions are in place that reduce the allowable campfire
size to 0.5 meters by 0.5 meters More information can be found at http://bcwildfire.ca/ · As of July 4th
there has been an open fire ban (excludes campfires) that restricts
Burning waste, Fireworks and burning barrels. For upto date information
on Fire Bans please go to http://bcwildfire.ca/ · The
Fire danger rating determines the risk of Wildfire based on weather
information. Your local danger rating can be found here http://bcwildfire.ca/Weather/ |
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