FireSmart Home Assessment
Residents of TNRD Electoral Areas can request a free FireSmart Home Assessment, where a TNRD FireSmart Coordinator will assess the risk of wildfire for your home and other structures. Recommendations will be made to mitigate the risk and help increase your home’s resiliency to wildfire.
Note: Exact timing for a FireSmart Home Assessment depends on demand. During busier times, it may take multiple weeks or longer for a FireSmart representative to visit your property. We appreciate your patience.
FireSmart in the Community
On top of doing regular FireSmart Home Assessments in all Electoral Areas, TNRD FireSmart staff are active in the community during the year, attending community events wherever possible. Come talk to our staff, and learn valuable insights on how to protect your property from wildfire. Below is a list of confirmed events that FireSmart staff will attend in 2023. (Please note: This is not an exhaustive list; TNRD FireSmart may be attending community events that are not on this list).
- May 4, 2024: McLure Fire Hall Open House: 11:00 am – 2:00 pm
- May 7, 2024: Merritt Civic Centre FireSmart Presentation: 6:00 – 8:00 pm
- May 11, 2024: Knutsford Community Hall (during Knutsford Community Response Society AGM): 10:45 am
- May 14, 2024: Rivershore Golf Club: 6:00 pm
- May 26, 2024: Barriere Seniors Hall: 1:00 pm
- June 8, 2024: Loon Lake Fire Hall: 11:00 am – 2:00 pm
- June 13, 2024: Kamloops and District Fish and Game Club: McDonald Park: 7:00 – 9:00 pm
- June 15, 2024: Stump Lake: 9:00 am
- June 18, 2024: Thompson River Estates: 5:00 pm
- June 22, 2024: Merritt Central Park Community FireSmart Day: 11:00 am – 5:00 pm
- June 27, 2024: Cherry Creek (5280 Trans-Canada Highway West): 6:00 pm
- July 11, 2024: Barriere Forks Regional Park: 11:00 am – 1:00 pm
- July 13, 2024: Pritchard Rodeo: 1:00 – 4:00 pm
- August 31 – September 2, 2024: North Thompson Fall Fair (details TBD)
- September 2024: Kamloops Exhibition Association Fair (details TBD)
Think FireSmart
By taking action and creating a FireSmart property, you will dramatically increase the resistance of your home and property to damage caused by wildfire. The good news is, it’s surprisingly easy to do.
The FireSmart BC Homeowner’s Manual recommends actions starting from the home and progressing outwards. Changes made to the areas closest to the home, and your home itself, have the greatest potential to reduce the risk of wildfire damage.
The FireSmart BC Home Ignition Zone poster recommends creating a non-combustible zone around your home and any attachments (such as decks) and identifies three zones to reduce the risk of fire.
- Immediate Zone (0 m to 1.5 m): The Immediate Zone is a non-combustible area that starts at the house and extends to a 1.5 metre perimeter around the home and attached structures, including decks. Choose non-combustible building materials and vegetation.
- Intermediate Zone (1.5 m to 10 m): This area should be fire-resistant and free of combustible materials that could easily ignite.
- Extended Zone (10 m to 30 m): In this area, thin and prune evergreen trees to reduce fire hazards. Regularly clean up accumulations of fallen branches, dry grass and needles from the ground to eliminate potential surface fuels.
FireSmart Homeowner Resources
- Tips to FireSmart Your Home (Infographic)
- Property Ignition Zones and Mitigation (Poster)
- FireSmart Landscaping Tips (Brochure)
- Rural B.C. Homeowner FireSmart Testimonial (Video)
- FireSmart BC Website
For information and resources on wildfire prevention, click here.
Farm/ Ranch Wildfire Preparedness
Producers face unique challenges from wildfire. Use the Farm/Ranch Wildfire Plan Guide and Workbook to develop a preparedness plan that’s customized for your specific operational needs.
Community Wildfire Resiliency Plans
Each Community Wildfire Resiliency Plan (CWRP) is a high-level plan, which is intended to identify wildfire preparedness of communities and projects to mitigate losses from potential wildfires. CWRPs are required prior to applying to many grant funding opportunities for local FireSmart activities.
CWRPs for all TNRD Electoral Areas were completed as of July 2024, and can be viewed below.
- Electoral Area “A” (Wells Gray Country)
- Electoral Area “B” (Thompson Headwaters)
- Electoral Area “E” (Bonaparte Plateau)
- Electoral Area “I” (Blue Sky Country)
- Electoral Area “J” (Copper Desert Country)
- Electoral Area “L” (Grasslands)
- Electoral Area “M” (Beautiful Nicola Valley – North)
- Electoral Area “N” (Beautiful Nicola Valley – South)
- Electoral Area “O” (Lower North Thompson)
- Electoral Area “P” (Rivers and the Peaks)
In October 2022, the TNRD hosted a series of open houses in conjunction with Forsite Consultants. These open houses were an opportunity for residents to learn about CWRPs being created for all 10 TNRD Electoral Areas.
Click on each row on the list below to view CWRP materials presented by Forsite Consultants during public consultation sessions held between October 10 – 30, 2023.
FireSmart Community Assessment Reports
FireSmart Community Assessment Reports were completed for 24 communities within the TNRD in 2019. These reports are intended to be a resource for residents for creating a FireSmart Community Plan. A FireSmart Community Plan developed from this information should be implemented in a collaborative manner, and updated and modified as needed.
Each FireSmart Community Assessment Report provides a site description and assesses fuel types, topography, nearby combustibles and other data that could contribute to severity of interface wildfires. Further, each report provides recommendations for FireSmart practices and wildfire mitigation in their community.
Contact:
TNRD FireSmart Program
Tel.: 250-377-6288
Email: firesmart@tnrd.ca