FireSmart Tips

SOURCE: FireSmart BC

In a wildfire, embers can travel up to two kilometres by wind or energy of a fire. A wildfire can tear through a community, often bouncing through treetops, particularly conifers like cedar hedges.

Every FireSmart step we take can have a positive impact.  At minimum, clear debris from around your home, move combustible materials at least 1.5 metres (5 ft) from your home (this includes cedar hedges and patio furniture), and consider installing fire-retardant materials and barriers.

These FireSmart tips can help you reduce your risk:

• Clear Debris:
  (a) Remove leaves and branches from roofs and gutters, under decks, and around the base of your home.
  (b) Trim overgrown trees away from your home. Trim lower branches at least 2 metres from the ground. Space trees and shrubs at least 3 metres apart. Trim trees around access routes to your home to allow access for emergency vehicles. Also contact your utility company to clear branches and other vegetation from overhead electrical installations.
• Install Spark Barriers:
  (a) Add a spark arrestor to the top of your chimney.
  (b) Screen vents with 3 mm non-combustible mesh.
  (c) Ensure eaves have properly fitted soffits and fascia.
• Remove Combustible Materials next to your home: Move or replace wooden fences, decking, structures, wood piles, or other materials at least 1.5 metres from the home or outbuildings. This includes patio furniture and anything that will burn.
• Replace Combustible Plantings: Opt for fire-resistant plants like leafy, deciduous trees, perennial flowers, and waxy, broadleaf shrubs. Remove evergreen conifers with resin-like sap, including cedars, cypress, and junipers. View FireSmart BC’s Landscaping Hub.
• Trim Grass: Avoid tall ornamental grasses in your garden. Also, keep your lawn shorter than 10 centimetres. Consider xeriscaping your yard to limit the need for irrigation.
• Be aware of Mulch: Avoid using bark mulch near your home. Opt for rocks or gravel.
• Relocate Firepits: Keep firepits 3 meters away from flammable structures and overhanging tree branches. Note that Fire Permits are required in the City of Merritt. Also they are not valid during a Fire Ban, which regularly occurs from July to October.
• Renovate your home with fire-retardant materials:
  (a) Roofs: Class A-, B- or C-rated roofing include metal, asphalt, clay and composite rubber tiles. Untreated wood shakes are dangerous.
  (b) Siding: Stucco, metal siding, brick/concrete, and fibre cement siding offer superior fire resistance. Wood and vinyl siding offer little protection.
  (c) Windows: Tempered, thermal, double-paned windows are recommended.
  (d) Doors and garage doors: Ensure they are fire-rated and have a good seal.
• Get Fire Tools ready:
  (a) Every home should have readily accessible shovels, rakes, axes, garden hoses, sprinklers, and ladders to assist in suppressing wildfires.
  (b) Get a Wildfire Home Sprinkler Protection Kit.

VIEW THE FIRESMART BEGINS AT HOME GUIDE

FireSmart Program

FireSmart Canada is a national program intended make homes, businesses, and communities more resilient to wildfire. BC has its own specific FireSmart program, FireSmartBC. The FireSmart program features offers wide variety of training and resources, including online courses, workshops, training videos, and guides, that are applicable to home and business owners in Merritt.

Merritt property owners should consider taking a looking at the FireSmartBC Home Guide, which overviews strategies to reduce your home’s vulnerability to wildfire. After following the Home Guide’s suggestions, property owners should also consider contacting firesmart@merritt.ca to book a free FireSmart property assessment.

Gardening enthusiasts in Merritt should take a look at FireSmart BC’s Landscaping Hub, which outlines landscaping techniques and fire-resistant plant species that can be used to both beautify your property and increase its resistance to wildfire.

Merritt citizens may also consider taking the online FireSmart 101 course offered by FireSmart Canada. The course takes approximately one hour to complete, is offered at no cost, and introduces the FireSmart program and overviews basic wildfire mitigation strategies.

FireSmart Rebate   |   Program Guidelines

Under the FireSmart Community Funding & Supports program, approved applicants, such as the City of Merritt, can use grant funding to offer local rebate programs to residential property or homeowners (up to $5000 per resident household) that complete eligible FireSmart activities on their properties in the FireSmart Home Ignition Zone which includes the home and surrounding yard area – Non-Combustible Zone and Priority Zones 1 and 2.

This grant is available to all homeowners within municipal boundaries. Limited rebates are available on a first-come first-served basis. Not every resident will receive the maximum grant, as it relates to actual work completed.

Qualification Requirements

• The residential property or homeowner must have a FireSmart Home Ignition Zone Assessment Score Card of their property conducted by a qualified Local FireSmart Representative (LFR) or Wildfire Mitigation Specialist. The assessment must identify the property in a moderate, high or extreme category.
• The qualified Local FireSmart Representatives (LFR) must use the FireSmart Assessment Work Hours Estimate Form to outline mitigation recommendations to the residential property or
• Residential property or homeowners can complete the recommended mitigation activities themselves or hire others to complete the work.
• Only activities that are recommended in the completed assessment and that are identified in Table 10, are eligible for the rebate.
• Rebates are limited to a maximum of 50% of the total cost of the eligible activities identified in the table and no more than the grant maximum amount per property.
• Residential property owners must complete and submit a FireSmart Grant Application.
• A before and after photo of each project area from same position must be submitted.
• Materials purchased for FireSmart projects must be installed/planted on the home/property that was assessed before being approved for rebate.
• Completed FireSmart Work Hours Form.
• Work must be completed within 60 days of the assessment; extensions may be granted by the LFR.
• Receipts of incurred expenses must be submitted (if applicable).
• All projects must be completed by September 6, 2024.

Eligible FireSmart Activities