FireSmart activities ramp up in Quesnel as we have another record breaking wildfire year in BC!

The City’s FireSmart team brought education to hundreds of citizens and helped people make their homes and yards more defensible to wildfire. Over 60% of the land in our Quesnel and Surrounding Area Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) are private, so it’s critical that homeowners continue to make FireSmart landscaping and building choices.

This year, we had information booths at: the Home Trade Show, Farmer’s Markets, Chemistry Day in the Park, and Indigenous Day. We also had a Fresh Air Cinema on Canada Day and a special visit from Ember the Fox! New in 2023, we installed a FireSmart billboard outside of town, hosted the God Father of FireSmart, Alan Westhaver, and used a herd of goats for vegetation management! Read on for more details.

2023 Tradeshow

John Salewski and Matt Duran of BCWS were on hand to help over 500 homeowners at this year’s Trade Show! Folks got to take some awesome FireSmart swag if they made a FireSmart pledge for this summer. Most people pledged to remove cedar hedges and Mugo pine, or clean out under their decks or debris off the roofs.

Quesnel Farmer’s Market

This year the Quesnel FireSmart team encouraged citizens to download the Home Assessment Ap so they can carryout their own assessment and work on increasing their FireSmart risk rating.

Chemistry Day in the Park

Local FireSmart Representative Ted Traer at an information booth at Chemistry Day in the Park in June. Over 200 students were in attendance from School District 28 and the home-schooling group.

Fresh Air Cinema

On Canada Day, despite stormy weather, `350 people attended the new Super Mario Brothers movie in Lebourais Park. This free community celebration, brought to us by through Red Cross funding, helped bring people together and relieve some stress during a stressful wildfire season.

A special visit from a special Fox! Ember visited Quesnel on Canada Day

Ember made her first visit to Quesnel on Canada Day! Ember is FireSmart’s official mascot. Ember teaches Canadians how to apply FireSmart principles to their homes and properties so they can be more resilient against the threat of wildfire.

Billboard on Highway 16

Our new billboard was installed in May 2023 South of town and is part of FireSmart BC’s new campaign. The new campaign features a simple message: When it comes to wildfire, everyday chores, like trimming trees or cleaning gutters, can make a big impact. Taking action to FireSmart your property can dramatically decrease the risk of wildfire damaging your home and community. The best part is it’s surprisingly easy to do! Watch the FireSmart BC’s preparedness campaign video to learn more.

Alan Westhaver FireSmart Presentations

Alan discussing the risks of large cedar trees adjacent to homes and buildings.

Alan Westhaver is a wildfire researcher and expert who spent 30 years working in wildfire and helped write the FireSmart manual on how to protect properties from the devastating impacts of urban-wildfire disasters.

The Quesnel FireSmart Committee went on a field tour with Alan to the Fuel Management Trails and other locations to learn from his expertise and build our local community of practice.

In 2023, Westhaver made presentations in Lillooet, Clinton, Williams Lake, Quesnel and Clearwater, hosted by B.C.’s Community Wildfire Roundtables with support from the Fraser Basin Council. Alan has over 30 years in wildfire risk reduction, and was sharing lessons on how fire disasters happen, and high priority actions residents can take to reduce wildfire risks to homes and properties.

Photo: The goats got to mingle with the public during “visiting hours”. People could hang out with the goats and watch them work and ask questions about fuel management and FireSmart. Over 2 days, we had 45 visitors of all ages.

Fuel Management Goats begin their 2 year pilot

The City of Quesnel piloted a unique way to help prevent wildfires, one that involves the help of goats!

In July, we enlisted the help of 132 goats to graze on vegetation in the Fire Management Trails area for about a month, to see how livestock might help mitigate fire hazards. In 2021, the city opened the three-kilometre Fire Management Trails within the fuel management demonstration forest, adjacent to the Quesnel Airport, to educate residents about wildfire prevention.

The 31-hectare forest was categorized as a high-risk wildfire area when Quesnel established its CWPP in 2019. The plan aimed to reduce the threat of wildfires by selectively removing trees and grass while ensuring the long-term health of the forests.

Over the past few years, grass, brush, and invasive plants have grown up and so we decided to bring goats in to control wildfire risks as well as invasives in an environmentally friendly manner, instead of using herbicides. The goats, when working together, can clear nearly one hectare of vegetation per day. Year 1 of the pilot proved that goats are the G.O.A.T at this sort of work, and we have invited them back next year!
 

Learn more about the Forestry Initiatives Program today!