The B.C. government has provided more than $1.7 million in grants to 12 local governments and First Nations, including Doig River First Nation, in the Prince George Fire Centre to support wildfire-risk-reduction initiatives and help keep communities safe.
These Community Resiliency Investment (CRI) grants are part of more than $13 million provided to 107 recipients throughout B.C. following the latest application intake in the program’s FireSmart Community Funding and Supports category.
This funding will go towards building a DRFN Community Wildfire Resiliency Plan, completing FireSmart assessments on houses and critical infrastructure, as well as training and community education on FireSmart principles.
A Community Wildfire Resiliency Plan describes the wildfire risk in the forested areas up to 2km from homes, and will state actions that can be taken to mitigate the risk going forward. This plan is the foundation to developing a maintenance strategy for clearing dead trees, dead fall and other ladder fuels. It also identifies higher risk areas which would be priorities to work on.
There will be opportunities for community input into this plan which will help us narrow down areas to focus on first. FireSmart assessments are done by using a scorecard that looks at different hazard factors like roofing and siding type and condition as well as outbuilding and woodpile distances from houses. It also looks at the vegetation surrounding the house. Each house will have a hazard score which will allow an action plan to be put into place to ensure the risk is lowered and that houses will be protected from wildfires as much as possible.
The project is an important part of our emergency management program and will build capacity at Doig related to FireSmart and wildfire preparedness. We are looking forward to having Lester Davis’ help on completing housing risk assessments and coordinating with our contractor Frontera, who will provide guidance on wildfire protection planning for our community.
Photo: Ferlin Makadahay and the “Cutting Crew” getting a head start on Doig clean up and community wildfire safety. Thanks Howard Attachie, Dusty Oker, Ian Apsassin Tim Apsassin , Bradley Davis Vern Davis – great job guys!!
See full press release from the Province of BC here.
