Regional District soliciting community feedback for wildfire planning

Next year’s wildfire resiliency planning is underway in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District (TNRD), with a series of open houses designed to solicit community feedback throughout the ten TNRD electoral districts.

SPIN attended electoral area P’s session on Oct. 16 at Heffley Creek Community Hall. Electoral area P includes towns and villages like Heffley Creek, Knouff Lake and Whitecroft. The TNRD is responsible for electoral districts’ wildfire resiliency planning, whereas municipalities like Sun Peaks are responsible for their own. 

The event featured discussions between community members, Forsite Consulting representatives and the TNRD’s FireSmart coordinator before a presentation about wildfire planning and response up to 2022. This year’s wildfires were not part of the discussion, nor was it about BC Wildfire’s response to climate change-induced wildfires.

The TNRD has contracted Forsite Consultants to envision a Community Wildfire Resiliency Plan (CWRP) for each electoral area. Mike Simpson, a forester consultant hired by Forsite at the event, said the TNRD will use the plans to apply for community resiliency investment (CRI) funding.

“Once these plans are complete, [the TNRD] can apply for the next round of funding, which is managed by the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) for CRI funding,” Simpson said.

The TNRD should implement the plans by the fall of 2024.

Leslie Albert has been a resident of Knouff Lake for the last 22 years, and she’s been evacuated from wildfires three times over the last two decades while living in Interior B.C. She attended the event to learn more about strategies for her community.

“We don’t get a lot of attention,” Albert explained. “[I asked a] question about the seniors and what can be done to help them because we…don’t have any services. The only thing that gets done for the community of Knouff Lake is road clearing.”

Much of the privately owned forested land surrounding her area is dense she said, lacking forest fuel mitigation like removing lower branches from trees. She worries this makes her community vulnerable to a wildfire spreading. 

Another issue she has relates to fire fighting in a rural community that lacks a fire department. Some residents have geared up to fight forest fires themselves, she said.

“Some have purchased trucks or vehicles that they put water tanks on, and they’ve got pumps and regulation hoses,” Albert explained. “When fires happen up there from lightning strikes – and it happens quite a bit – they go up and fight fires because we’ve been self-sufficient and there isn’t any help for us.”

She’d like more funding from the TNRD for FireSmarting seniors’ properties, creating fire breaks and financing the purchase of fire fighting equipment like community water barrels. 

Phil Youwe was also in attendance and has lived on Heffley Lake for 37 years. Similarly to Albert, he was evacuated three times in 2003, with the Strawberry Hill, McClure and McGillivray wildfires. In 2021, the Embleton Mountain wildfire spread near his home.

He’s a proponent of FireSmart, encouraging the approach through his role with the Heffley Lake Community Association. But he also said owning a large rural property makes it difficult to fully FireSmart. 

“We live on 100-foot lots on the lake, so there’s not a lot of room to comply with all of the FireSmart guidelines, but you certainly can deal with your ignition zones and around your house and removing hazards that could lead to a spark or an ember igniting your facilities,” Youwe said.

However, he believes the most prominent fire risk comes from Crown Land surrounding Heffley Lake. While there are wildfire reduction programs to minimize threats close to homes, he wants to see preventative measures, like fire breaks, before a wildfire starts.

“When a fire happens, we dogo in with excavators and create a fire break real quick,” he explained. “I’m suggesting that with the knowledge we have and the planning that we have, there should be some opportunities to create some structural fire breaks and specific fire breaks that hopefully would be in areas where the fire might slow down or be stopped.”

Youwe also lives in a community without a fire department, and like residents of Knouff Lake, they are prepared in the event of a wildfire.

“We do educate ourselves in the sense of having firefighting equipment among our members and we do make our membership aware of who’s got pumps and who’s got hoses, and we know who the key people are. So if there was a need to mobilize, we could probably do that fairly quickly.”

While the results of the community survey and the plan itself won’t be complete until December, people are encouraged to contact the TNRD with questions or feedback by emailing tnrdcwrp@forsite.ca.

The final open house is at Prichard Community Hall on Oct. 30.

Anyone interested in a FireSmart home assessment in the ten electoral districts within the TNRD can contact Daniel Funk, TNRD FireSmart coordinator, over the phone by calling 250 377-6305 or by email at firesmart@tnrd.ca.