CANMORE – A wildfire mitigation plan update for the Town of Canmore recommends the municipal fire department design and builds a structure protection trailer with sprinklers to improve its response to wildfires in the future.
Purchasing a trailer was one of 12 recommendations to come out of a Wildfire Mitigation Strategy review conducted this year by Canmore-based Montane Forest Management’s Stew Walkinshaw.
Walkinshaw presented the review to council along with an updated hazard assessment, wildfire behaviour potential maps, and vegetation management assessment after 15 years of removing fuels from the landscape in and around the community.
“It is interesting to note that there have been significant accomplishments in implementation of the recommendations of those two plans over that time period,” he said. “It became time to look at what had been accomplished and what new priorities needed to be focused on over the next five- to 10-year period and that is what this update is about.”
The identification of a sprinkler trailer for purchase was one of the recommendations from the review.
Walkinshaw said a sprinkler trailer would provide quick and easy access for defensive deployment for a certain number of structures under threat from wildfire.
The Town of Banff has a structural protection trailer and Fire Chief Silvio Adamo said it was designed and put together by the department in 2003 for a cost of approximately $40,000.
“We put it together ourselves with members and purchasing the equipment and materials,” he said. “At the time, it was quite a comprehensive trailer and we kept the cost low because we did the work ourselves.”
With 400 sprinklers, the trailer could be deployed to protect an estimated 100 structures, depending on how many sprinklers are used for each.
The sprinklers are not used to fight a wildfire, but are used to wet down areas around a structure to prevent embers falling from the sky from finding a fuel source on the ground.
Walkinshaw said the fact the Bow Valley is located within a dense evergreen forest puts it at risk for wildfire and there will always be a threat to the community. The implications for a mitigation strategy is that it not only needs to be updated, but areas of land that may have been worked on in the past need to be maintained into the future.
“We need to understand we will always have lots of wildfire threat in this valley and what we need to do is we need to focus on reducing that threat in important areas that are immediately adjacent to development and that is really where this plan focuses on,” he said.
Walkinshaw said Canmore experiences approximately 35 days a year within the very high or extreme fire danger levels with winds on those days predominately from the southwest and west.
FireSmart sets out priority zones for vegetation management, including setting the priority area within 10 metres of a structure. One of the recommendations in the strategy update is to educate and encourage residents to engage in FireSmart principles on their properties. In particular, residents of Silvertip, Benchlands, Eagle Terrace, Canyon Ridge, Peaks of Grassi, Homesteads, Prospect, Cairns, Three Sisters Creek, Rundleview and the Alpine Club of Canada are in priority areas.
Manager of protective services Greg Burt told council the plan is for planning purposes and any budgeted costs related to recommendations would return at budget.
“I want to remind council that this is for planning purposes and any of the recommendations that have costs associated would be part of the regular budget process,” said Burt, adding regular grant funding is received from the province for FireSmart work. “We receive a large amount of support from the government of Alberta.”
Since 2013, he said, Canmore has received $450,000 for FireSmart fuel reduction activities and has another two grants for $135,000 being processed.
Over the past 15 years, Canmore has treated 138 hectares of land using the FireSmart program. The province has also contracted and funded the municipality to complete work on its lands within town limits.
Other recommendations in the strategy that could have budget implications include developing an education and awareness campaign, increased cross training for Canmore Fire-Rescue staff and replacement of all combustible roofing material on Town infrastructure facilities as there are still a handful of buildings throughout the community with wood shake roofing materials.
There is also a recommendation to review the guidelines for landscaping materials for acceptable plant species and the use of combustible bark mulch.
“The Town of Canmore has some very progressive guidelines in its Land Use Bylaw, and that is really nice to see,” Walkinshaw said.
The strategy included recommendations for updates to Canmore’s statutory plans, and a recent update to the Land Use Bylaw has already occurred to require FireSmart principles be applied when a home is built adjacent to an area that has significant wildfire hazard identified.
Mayor John Borrowman said the entire community is concerned about wildfire, especially after being affected by smoke throughout the summer of 2017 from the Verdant Creek blaze.
“In addition to the work we are doing on steep creek mitigation, which is pretty leading edge, it is reassuring to know we continue to have a fairly innovative and successful program for wildfire reduction,” Borrowman said. “The strategy is timely and I look forward to seeing it roll out through the capital plan.”
