Jasperites are getting used to seeing stumps, felled trees and burned snags outside of town, but the FireSmart-ForestWise program isn’t all about the forest. Taking action against the spread of a disastrous wildfire within the townsite is also necessary. 

The main structures in town that require protection are homes. There are four basic elements to protecting a residence, according to Alan Westhaver, project manager for the FireSmart-ForestWise program.

“Managing vegetation” within your own backyard is the first of these elements, said Westhaver. This requires pruning flammable vegetation to several metres away from the house if possible, said Westhaver, adding that this will reduce the “continuity of the fuel.”

The second element requires the clearing of clutter around the home, under the deck and between the garage and the house, said Westhaver.  

Third, the homeowner should have a water supply and garden hose long enough to reach every corner of the their lot, said Westhaver. “If a fire does start, no matter what the cause is, you can be Johnny-on-spot or somebody can run up to your house and turn the garden hose on and there’s no problem,” he said.

The first three elements for FireSmarting a home are relatively low cost, but the fourth is a bit more pricey: structural modifications.

“The roof is the most vulnerable thing in your home,” said Westhaver, so when your roof needs changing, it’s wise to go with a less flammable option, such as metal, asphalt shingles or tiles, he said. 

Deputy fire chief Ron Stanko is well on his way to reducing the risk to his home. “In my position, I have to ‘sell’ FireSmart,” he said, “and if I don’t take the lead on it, then you know what, it’s hard for me to ask everyone else.” 

Stanko has taken steps each year to improve fire resistance to his house. He cleans his roof and gutters annually, removed cedar siding in 1993, removed some spruce trees and juniper bushes in 2004, screened in his chimney in 2005, moved his woodpile away from his house in 2006, removed and treated vegetation in 2007 and finally just this past week, Stanko redid his roof, replacing highly flammable cedar shakes with asphalt shingles. 

Based on the FireSmart home hazard assessment, which like golf, the lower score wins, Stanko has gone from a score of 108 to 37 with all the steps he’s taken. If a homeowner would like to have an assessment done, “there’s a standing offer from Greg Van Tighem and Ron Stanko at the fire department and myself to sit down with people and do that for them, said Westhaver.

“It’s a hazard assessment, so we just systematically walk around your lot and look at your home and we look at those categories of things and provide some suggestions” for improvement, said Westhaver. “It turns into a little bit of a checklist,” he added. 

Although cedar shakes are aesthetically more desirable than many other roof coverings, they’re “just a big catch basin for burning embers,” said Stanko. “The biggest problem with the non-treated shakes is that they - it has clearly been demonstrated throughout countless fires in California and British Columbia - that the floating ember will ignite cedar shakes. It’s the number one cause for igniting homes,” he said. Westhaver echoed Stanko’s assessment, saying that embers ignite 90 per cent of homes during wildfires. 

Despite the dangers of cedar shakes, residents may have noticed that the brand new roof on the Parks Canada info centre is covered in them. However, the cedar shakes covering the roof are pressure-infused with a fire retardant, said Stanko. Project manager of the info centre restoration, Ray Magnan, said it is an “engineered Class A roof” and fits the requirements of the FireSmart program. The cedar shakes covering the info centre “were very expensive,” said Westhaver, “but in order to be historically correct at the info centre, they wanted a wooden roof, but it is rated.” Wood products that are fire resistant are “out there,” he said, but they’re “hard to come by and they’re very expensive,” added Westhaver. 

Stanko has listed all of the changes he’s done to his home since 1993 on a poster outside his home at 1 Brewster Crescent. Stanko also pointed out that his initiatives not only reduce the risk to his home, but to the homes of his neighbours as well. Additionally, “should there be a mandatory evacuation, we have a greater potential of protecting homes that have a non-combustible roofs,” he emphasized.