Firefighters were deployed outside a Sobeys in Fall River, NS on Saturday in hopes of educating shoppers about safety procedures. wildfire season — and in the wake of last year’s historic fires, which destroyed hundreds of homes across the province.
Paul Irving, a retired firefighter, said the purpose of the program was to inform residents about ways they could potentially protect their homes from significant damage in the event of a wildfire.
Irving said there are “two main messages” from the crew of Halifax Fire Station 45.
“Most of our fires are caused by people burning. We have a burning bylaw, and you really want people to understand that it’s very important to follow that bylaw,” he said during an interview with Global News on Saturday.
The information event, dubbed ‘Wildfire Community Preparedness Day’, was held outside a Sobeys in Fall River, NS on Saturday.
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His other recommendation was for residents to take advantage of the services provided through the municipality firesmart programWhich is said to provide free wildfire risk assessments to homes in the Halifax area.
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“It teaches you to defend your home,” he said.
“The biggest monster in a wildfire is trees with needles on them. You should not keep them too close to your home. … We would like people to change this and choose trees that are less likely to burn. “Anything with leaves is much better than anything with needles.”
According to the Halifax Regional Municipality website, the FireSmart program teaches residents how to reduce the risk of their home being vulnerable to wildfire through several steps, including emergency planning, vegetation management and education.
“Residents will be given a report of their homes and recommendations to reduce the risk of interface fires on their property structures,” the site says.
Halifax Fire Lt. Aaron Van Nostrand was also at the information booth outside Sobeys on Saturday. He said he hopes more people will use the FireSmart service.
“You can call 311 and ask a fire department evaluator to come out and go over the checklist with you. It is completely free,” he said.
“We’ll help you go through the checklist and pick out little things you can do to help tip the odds in your favor.”
Last year, the largest wildfire ever recorded in Nova Scotia occurred after a devastating fire broke out on May 26, 2023. Barrington Lake, 23,379 hectares of land is burning and it took almost two months to be completely extinguished. The fire forced more than 6,000 people from their homes and destroyed 60 houses and huts as well as 50 other structures.
Just two days before the blaze in the southwestern corner of Nova Scotia, another destructive wildfire started in the Upper Tantallon area amid a large swath of suburban areas surrounded by woodlands northwest of Halifax. That fire burned 969 hectares of land, destroyed 151 homes and forced more than 16,000 residents to flee the area.
Irving said there is an increased willingness among residents to take adequate safety measures compared to recent years, largely due to the damaging wildfires that brought the province to a standstill last spring.
“Everyone thinks that a brush fire starts somewhere, you call the fire department and they come to put it out. After last year, I think people are realizing it’s not that easy,” he said.
“If a fire starts and the weather is bad for wildfires that day, there’s really not much chance that the fire department will be able to put it out. So, what we need to do is for people to think about it in advance and prepare their assets so that they are not helpless.
That’s the message Ken Brand was reminded of when he was out grocery shopping Saturday morning, when he stopped to chat with some members of the fire department on his way out of Sobeys.
“It’s important that people are aware and take simple steps to ensure their personal safety,” Brand said after his chat.
“It takes no time at all to listen to what these gentlemen have to say. If you’re in a hurry, grab a brochure and read it at home, don’t throw it in the trash. It is important.”
– With files from Global News’ Vanessa Wright and The Canadian Press
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