It takes a village to keep a village safe.

Recently, the Herald spoke with Krista Minar from the Merritt Fire and Rescue Department. Minar explained that working on your property is only half the battle when it comes to fire safety.

“As a single home, if you did all the FireSmart principles and you did all the right work but the neighbours on either side don’t do the same work or put in the same effort, your home is still at risk of catching on fire from home to home ignition.”

Minar added, “FireSmart is really about bringing your neighbourhood together and working together as a group to make the collective safe.”

According to Minar, the “wall of fire most people expect” is not really what residents should be on the lookout for.

“When people imagine a fire coming into the city, they imagine a wall of flame,” Minar explained.

“The real risk is the ember storm that comes ahead of the flame front. In that ember storm you’re going to have thousands of little pieces of possible ignition sources that are going to land on your deck, your wood pile, or your bark mulch.”

Residents must remain vigilant as they are facing potential flame threats on two fronts, embers coming from either a storm or their next door neighbours.

“When a home catches on fire it produces a lot of embers in its own right,” Minar explained.

“If we have an ignition in one home the home next to it is going to be at risk especially if we take into consideration things like Merritt winds, time of day, and the type of things that are on fire.”

The fire season has been a period where wildfires are expected to happen which is very fluid in nature. Minar attributes the length of the fire season to the weather and symptoms observed in recent fire behaviours.

“It has been extending depending on the year,” said Minar. “It used to be that our worst time was July and August but we can see fires from now through the fall before the first snowfall.”

As a location, Merritt is highly susceptible to wildfires. The Valley has strong winds, and plenty of trees and vegetation that could catch fire. An evacuation alert was issued to the city during the 2021 wildfire season.

“One of the things we’ve learned through this is that it’s really important that we talk to community members and let them know to have a 72-hour emergency kit ready and for families to talk about having an evacuation plan,” said Minar.
“They should know how to get out of the community. If you have children, pets, or family that requires special care, then there should be extra considerations made when talking about leaving the community.”

Minar outlined some actionable steps homeowners can take to become better prepared for any potential wildfire;

-Roof and siding must be a non-combustible material such as asphalt or metal

-The first 1.5 metres around the home, also called the 1A zone must not have combustible material present. (bark mulch, conifers, cedar shrubs, wood stockpile, unmaintained sheds, wooden decks, patios)

-Make sure the first 10 metres do not have too many materials that will encourage fire growth such as trees.

-Should replacing house materials prove to be too expensive at the moment, make sure that you are doing the bare minimum such as cleaning out the gutters, removing vegetation too close to the home, raking up leaves, clearing the ground of fine fuels such as the ponderosa pine needles.

“The city and the province work really hard to maintain areas around the community and on city property but it doesn’t negate the work that is required to be done on private property,” said Minar.

“What we want to see is an entire row of houses that have all applied the FireSmart principles because then together they’re creating a bit of a break and an area where the fire is not encouraged to grow.”

“We really do want neighbors to talk to each other and communicate,” said Minar. “We actually have a program available called the FireSmart Community Champions and those that are interested in spearheading FireSmart principles in their areas can connect with me.”

There will be a free workshop at 7 pm on Tuesday, April 26 in the Civic Centre. Residents are encouraged to attend and listen in to lectures to learn more about how to become FireSmart.

“I think it would be great if we could have individuals in different areas such as in the Bench and in Logan Lane that can continue to have conversations with their neighbours and encourage them to take part in FireSmart activities.”