Photo: Village of Chase

Putting up money to boost rebates supporting FireSmart efforts and developing a wildfire development permit area topped the list of wildfire mitigation proposals recommended by Chase's FireSmart coordinator.

At the Feb. 11 Chase village council meeting, Michael Henderson, FireSmart coordinator, gave a presentation on wildfire mitigation proposals to council following a report last month on village wildfire risk.

Council heard that a recent study put Chase as one of the top 10 Canadian small communities for burn probability.

On Tuesday, Henderson presented council with a list of mitigation options prioritized by cost, complexity and level of benefit to the village.

“My number one solution, that is a recommendation that is listed here, is matching the community resilience investment rebate,” Henderson said, “That's only 250 bucks right now, and it's really not much of an incentive.”

He said if the village matched the rebate, the amount would go up to $500 for detached homes. Strata complexes would get $1,000 to $1,500, depending on the number of dwellings per acre.

He said this is important, as a lot of Chase is private land.

“There's not much of a way for local governments to help out besides the rebate," he said. “And we want to encourage homeowners as much as we can to manage fuels on their property."

He said the initial cost to the village would likely be quite low, but he felt the expense would likely grow over time as more homeowners took advantage of the program.

“$250 is not much when you think about the cost of removing vegetation on your property, bringing in an arborist, and that's one of the cheaper things to do,” he added. “It's nothing like replacing your roof.”

Joni Heinrich, chief administrative officer, said Henderson would be meeting with her and Chief Financial Officer Debbie Lovin to prepare a staff report on the topic.

“We'd like to bring forward some potential ideas for rebate increases, if council will be willing to consider those at a budget meeting,” Heinrich said.

Another proposal Henderson considered high priority is the creation of a fire development permit area and applicable bylaws to support it.

“This is very commonly adopted by municipalities implementing fire smart,” he said. “WDPAs are pretty critical looking into the future, because it means that any project going forward, any kind of development will be FireSmart certified from the get go.”

He said communities usually support WDPAs by implementing FireSmart into certain bylaws including property maintenance, emergency tree removal, good neighbour and rubbish bylaws.

However, he noted since Chase does not have a full-time bylaw officer, it would be difficult to actually enforce these kinds of bylaws.

“It doesn't have to be full time necessarily, but perhaps an increase in the bylaw officer’s hours,”
he said. “Which I understand has tax implications.”

Fuel mitigation work around the railway is another area of high importance, he said, since railways are common ignition sources.

He noted completing this work had some additional complications, as CPKC has a 15-metre right of way around the railway. Any work within that area would require extensive consultation with the rail company.

Other more expensive upgrades he recommended included an upgrade to the fire department’s structural protection unit trailer and the village’s water delivery infrastructure.

He also recommended beginning formal FireSmart assessment work for each building owned by the village, but noted more expensive FireSmart recommendations like siding or roofing replacements could be planned to be completed further in the future.

Council thanked Henderson for his report and passed a motion to receive his report as information.