GBC FireSmart Committee
Chipper Days are Back! See You at the Hamlet Water Plant from 10:00am to 4:00pm on August 10 & 11 (Sat/Sun)
Bring your green waste (tree limbs/trimmings and small trees – no lumber or rotten logs please) and we’ll have it unloaded from your vehicle, chipped and recycled – for free. The Hamlet water plant is located at the far north end of Burnside Drive – look for the FireSmart feather flags.
Marcus Weckesser, District Chief with Rocky View County Fire Services notes that “Every FireSmart measure, no matter how small, can change the outcome of a fire.”
A great starting point ahead of Chipper Days is a FireSmart home assessment. This free, confidential service takes about 30 minutes for Rocky View County Fire Services or Redwood Meadows Emergency Services to perform. Over 80 Bragg Creekers in the past year have taken advantage of this service – here are a few comments from property owners:
“Assessment was invaluable, I never understood what the real risks and impacts were, now I have some idea. We will be implementing some of their feedback for sure.“
“I’m thankful for the FireSmart assessment, and think it was well organized and an awesome tool that everyone should take advantage of. The Captain did a short but thorough walk through of my property and house exterior. He mentioned several action items – many I was aware of and a few I never thought of.”
“It was very, very good. The two fire fighters were very professional and helpful with their suggestions. While it is with some luck that we have done some things right, there are a few things I can do to make it better here.”
According to Marcus, “Fire has always been a part of the landscape. When there is a regular cycle of fire, it’s less intense. Having a community in a forested area interrupts that cycle and leads to fuel accumulating.”
If we are to adapt to living with wildfire, we need FireSmart. FireSmart starts at home with mitigations that reduce the ignitability of structures and the fire intensity of surrounding vegetation.
It’s not possible to predict how a fire will behave – there are just too many variables. You can’t predict where the embers will be blown and what they’ll ignite.
“Every house that is FireSmart slows down the spread of wildfire in a neighbourhood,” says Marcus. “If people work together and create a FireSmart neighbourhood, fire is more likely to go through the perimeters of the area and not devastate the community.”
Join your neighbours who have undertaken this first step to develop a FireSmart action plan for their property – you can book an assessment online at the Rocky View County website (search “FireSmart” on the website). Check out our Facebook page (“Greater Bragg Creek FireSmart Committee”) or contact the FireSmart Committee if you have any questions. There are a number of companies in the Bragg Creek area that can help you out with FireSmarting your property.
