UPFRONT Beprepared,beFireSmart,saysDeltaFire

PHIL MELNYCHUK Contributing Writer

Those juniper bushes that make landscaping a breeze and the cedar hedges which give cheap privacy screens, can hurt your house, if wildfires get close.

“Junipers, they’re like gasoline,” said Delta Deputy Fire Chief Dave Ayton. “At this time of year, based on how dry the conditions can get, the cedar hedges are probably our number one threat, for a fire spreading from your yard to your house. They’re quite a flammable plant that is an issue for sure ”

Delta Fire, along with a FireSmart BC representative, offered an info session on FireSmart building practices to Pinewood area residents in early June in North Delta Ayton, who is also emergency program coordinator, said the biggest threat are the ember showers that can be carried by the wind before falling down onto a roof, into an eavestrough, or on to a combustible plant such as a juniper or cedar, where they can set a house on fire.

Although FireSmart BC focuses on rural properties – on making safer homes and landscaping for homes that are next to the forest – parts of FireSmart also can apply to city homes.

“In a residential, suburban area like Delta, we can’t ask residents to start chopping trees down, or thinning out their neighbours’ trees, now we ’ re going against our own bylaws, but what we can do, is concentrate on that non-combustible area, that zero- to 1.5-metre zone around your home directly,” he said

A key FireSmart principle is dividing a property into three areas - the area which is 1.5 to 10 metres from a house, the area from 10 to 30 metres from a house, and the rest of the property, 30 to 100 metres and beyond.

The area that’s right next to a house, the non- combustible zone within 1.5 metres, shouldn’t have any fire-prone plants, nor have any bark mulch. Grass should be trimmed below 10 cm and combustible materials removed from either beside your house or under a deck.

Removing combustible plants are recommendations that are based on FireSmart studies.

“There are FireSmart friendly plants, landscaping you can do around your home,” said Ayton.

Keeping roofs and gutters clean, removing combustibles from beneath a sundeck, keeping grass cut short, can all help reduce the risk for a suburban home.

“If we can remove enough of those ignition points … that will again, protect your home,” he said “It’s these small things that people can do to their homes and their yards, that if there was an interface fire moving through their neighbourhood, it would increase the odds of a home surviving a forest fire, while also saving firefighters from having to chase fires at multiple homes.”

Any measure a homeowner wants to take, whether in the city or countryside, is voluntary

Delta Coun. Dylan Kruger said the city has a wildfire protection plan that was passed in 2017 The plan is reported on annually and includes regular forest fuel load reduction in Watershed Park and Burns Bog.

There’s also a fuel-load reduction program approved in 2020 to ensure annual removal of dead trees and branches from high-risk areas in Burns Bog and Watershed Park

Go to https://firesmartbc.ca/ to download an interactive graphic to help you FireSmart your home