DEH CHO
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources is encouraging homeowners and neighbourhoods in Deh Cho communities to take responsibility for protecting their homes and cabins against forest fires.

The Saulteaux family's cabin, which was 'fire smarted', survived a forest fire this summer while a different fire located approximately 10 kilometers away burned the N'dulee ferry camp, which wasn't fire smarted. - photo courtesy of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources

Westly Steed, the FireSmart co-ordinator with the department, held community meetings in Jean Marie River, Fort Simpson and Fort Liard between Feb. 11 to 13. Steed was promoting the FireSmart Canada Community Recognition Program.

The program encourages people who are living in areas prone to forest fires, also called wildfires, to plan and work together to significantly reduce their community's vulnerability. The program is applicable across the Deh Cho, because each community is in an area where fires can move from wildland fuel to urban fuel, like homes.

"Any time you have homes in the middle of a forest there's a chance they'll burn," Steed said.

As part of his presentation, Steed showed a video about wildfires and tested methods that can be used to reduce the chance of homes and other buildings burning. More than 50 per cent of homes that are burned in areas where urban structures meet with wildland are lost as a result of firebrands, which are flying, burning embers. According to research, some conducted outside of Fort Providence, 85 to 90 per cent of homes with non-flammable roofs and 10 metres of clearance around them won't burn.

The program provides information about what action can be taken, including removing and thinning flammable material around houses, to prevent them burning in the event of a wildfire.

"It's pretty simple stuff, but again it requires us to take some action," he said.

Loyal Letcher, the manager of forests in the Deh Cho region for the department, has compiled evidence that shows why Deh Cho residents should be participating in the program. He uses last year's fire season in the region as an example.

"I call it the warning shot over the bow year," he said.

There were 76 forest fires in the Deh Cho in 2013 that covered 256,150.51 hectares. More than half of all the area burned in the territory last year was in the Deh Cho.

"People don't think about fires until they're right in the middle of the season," Letcher said.

Last year, one of the fires burned the N'dulee ferry camp, which wasn't fire smarted, and closed the highway and ferry for days. Fires also burned two cabins and threatened Wrigley and Jean Marie River.

"The Deh Cho is prime for this to happen again," Letcher said.

Residents can't assume that fire crews will be able to stop a wildfire from entering a community or that local fire departments can protect homes if that happens, he said.

"I think people just become complacent," said Letcher.

Letcher said he's particularly concerned about the possibility of a fire in Wild Rose Acres, a subdivision of Fort Simpson, that isn't fire smarted. If a brush fire, not even a wildfire, got away it could spread rapidly, he said.

In neighborhoods, homeowners are affected by the conditions of properties around them, which is why people have to work together, said Steed. The program has eight steps that include having a community champion and a FireSmart Community Board that organize implementing actions, like thinning brush, to address hazards that are identified.

After following the steps, communities can apply to be recognized as a FireSmart community, a status that has to be renewed yearly. No community in the NWT has received the recognition yet.

"We're hoping one of the Deh Cho communities will be the first," said Letcher.