Kenora’s Fire and Emergency Services department is developing the city’s first community wildland fire protection plan, thanks to a grant from the province.
Putting the plan together is a multi-step process that includes identifying people who could potentially be impacted by a wildland fire, assessing the city’s geographic landscape and emergency response infrastructure, mitigation strategies and public education explained Dave Pratt, Kenora’s fire chief and director of emergency services.
The community plan tries to answer the question: “As a homeowner, what could you do to make your house not so susceptible to wildland fire?” he said. “We are actually also doing an update to our emergency response plan for the municipality, so this kind of ties into it,” said Pratt, who is also Kenora’s community emergency management coordinator
The new developments come at a time when the country is fresh off the heels of a record-breaking 2023 fire season, with some experts predicting that 2024 could turn out to be even worse.
Though Kenora wasn’t heavily impacted, last year’s wildfire season was enough to inspire Pratt to apply for the grant to ensure Kenora would be better protected in the future. When it comes to fires, the Kenora region is serviced by the Fire and Emergency Services department as well as the pronvincial fire-fighters from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry.
While Kenora didn't end up catching on fire per se, most will likely remember that a restricted fire zone (RFZ) was in place for most of the summer, even cancelling the Canada Day firework display.
“God forbid we actually had a wildfire, are we as a department, or we as a municipality, ready to mitigate or to try and help?” he asked himself.
“One of the reasons I came to Kenora was to learn about wildland fires and the wildland urban interface,” said Pratt, who is originally from southern Ontario. Wildland fires include grass, brush and forest fires, and according to FireSmart Canada, which is a national program to increase wildfire resistance in residential areas, the term “wildland urban interface” refers to the areas where human development and the natural environment meet.
“I firmly believe with fires, everybody takes some responsibility for fire safety in their home,” said Pratt. “But I think the same applies, that everybody has to take some responsibility for the potential of wildfire around their home.”
“We'll do a lot of public education campaigns over the summer and as this plan gets built out,” said Pratt, who has already ordered print information materials to distribute throughout to community from FireSmart Canada. “And then hopefully everybody will be a little smarter, a little more aware of it and we’ll certainly reduce the risk of it happening within our community.”
The Fire and Emergency Services department is working with Loomex, a company based in Peterborough, ON, to do geographic information system (GIS) mapping of the region to identify potentially hazardous areas.
Some of the ways to make a home more “FireSmart” include doing upgrades to the home, removing vegetation from within three metres of the home or cutting the branches off surrounding trees until they are six feet from the ground.
To learn more visit firesmartcanada.ca or ontario.ca/firesmart