Burns Lake has now been officially certified as a FireSmart community.
This certification is designed to encourage local, self-organized groups to implement solutions for wildfire safety by engaging and supporting homeowners, community leaders, and others in shared efforts to protect people and properties from wildfire.
“The FireSmart certification shows that the town is working towards better fire protection,” explained Jesse Bird, who was hired by the Village of Burns Lake as a temporary FireSmart coordinator.
Since September, Bird has been helping residents protect their homes by assessing their properties and having them FireSmart approved. An approved FireSmart home is one that scores a ‘low’ to ‘moderate’ point value from the FireSmart’s home owners manual.
Bird has also been informing residents on how to protect their homes by going door to door, setting up information booths at local events, being active on social media and posting ads on Lakes District News.
In addition, Bird has helped create a local committee to set long-term goals that would help protect the community against the threat of wildfire. The committee includes representatives from village council, Burns Lake Fire Department, BC Hydro, Burns Lake Community Forest, Chinook Community Forest and a member of the public.
Although Bird’s contract as a FireSmart coordinator ends at the end of March, he said he will continue his work with the committee as a volunteer.
“As someone who’s interested in this field, I am staying on as head chairman on this committee and we are going to keep this going for as long as we can,” he said. “This isn’t something we want to stop here, this is something we want to continue five, 10 years down the road.”
One of the requirements for Burns Lake to become a certified FireSmart community was addressing the issue of trees and vegetation growing adjacent to power poles and power lines. Between First Avenue and Eighth Avenue, there were approximately 15 power poles that needed brushing work. Some of these critical spots have already been assessed by BC Hydro and work is expected to continue in April.
Bird said another common issues seen in Burns Lake is that some residents keep their firewood stock too close to their homes. Residents are advised to keep their firewood stock at least 20 metres away from their homes.
“A lot of people don’t go through their entire firewood stock through the winter, so they still have them sitting around come summer time; that’s a hazard not just for themselves, but to those neighbours around them.”
Burns Lake residents can still contact Bird to have their homes assessed to become FireSmart certified. He can reached by email at jessebird187@hotmail.com.