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Letter: Salmon Arm needs to get fire smart

I am writing to encourage the residents of Salmon Arm and the council to seriously consider adopting the Fire Smart program. The Neskonlith band hired Silvatech to assess the area surrounding Salmon Arm for a rating on the potential for a disastrous wild fire event. There are mountains on three sides of the city and this area produces a lush dense forest providing lots of fuel for a fire. So, yes there is a high potential for a wild fire event.
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I am writing to encourage the residents of Salmon Arm and the council to seriously consider adopting the Fire Smart program. The Neskonlith band hired Silvatech to assess the area surrounding Salmon Arm for a rating on the potential for a disastrous wild fire event. There are mountains on three sides of the city and this area produces a lush dense forest providing lots of fuel for a fire. So, yes there is a high potential for a wild fire event. Last summer our protection for the city was mobile fire units.

Fire Smart is a program to educate the residents how to keep their homes safer through forest clean up, landscaping, fire safe home construction, etc. It also requires a buffer zone around the city that is clear of the dense under brush and thick trees. The work required to clear the buffer zone would be well worth the cost. It would supply jobs to local residents as well as local construction companies. Lower risk labour could be done by willing volunteers. The larger trees could be sold to off set the cost of the buffer zone. There is a grant from the province to help with the costs if the city meets the requirements.

Summers are getting hotter and dryer, lightening storms are inevitable; as a community we need more protection than the mobile fire units. If you consider the cost of infrastructure damage, homes and businesses destroyed, the cost of a buffer zone has to be less. If the residents of Williams Lake, Kelowna, Ashcroft, Cache Creek, Fort McMurray etc. were asked if Fire Smart was an option to them would they say “yes” to it? In hindsight, I believe they would.

We need to be proactive in protecting this community, not just reactive. Fire Smart needs to be implemented as soon as possible to give the city a better chance to survive a wild fire.

R. Lipscomb