City of Powell River council will consider endorsing an application for $80,000 to continue with the FireSmart program administered by qathet Regional District (qRD).
At the September 21 committee of the whole meeting, Ryan Thoms, qRD manager of emergency services, said qRD operates the regional emergency preparedness service that runs throughout the entire region, including the city. He said the service operates the FireSmart program, and in order to support the program, the regional district receives provincial funding that supports a lot of the program’s financial requirements. The program is administered through the Union of British Columbia Municipalities, which requires resolutions supporting the application every year, in order to operate the service and provide grant funding that’s applied for each year.
“The goal is to run the program as we have now for five years, and to try to keep growing the program modestly and meet all of the demands,” said Thoms. “Since we are here with a few months left in this year’s FireSmart program, I thought I’d give an update.
“There’s no surprise that there was a lot of interest in the FireSmart program this year, though we’ve seen good support every year. We have already delivered more than 100 property assessments, so residential property owners are reaching out to our FireSmart program and asking our FireSmart coordinator to come to their property and assess it.”
Thoms said FireSmart advice is given during the visits and that opens the door for the homeowner to get some work done, applying for rebates of up to $500.
He said specifically in the city, not surprisingly, COVID-19 caused a bit of a setback last year, and there was not as much uptake. This year, it’s rebounded, with upwards of 20 per cent of the residential property owners reaching out to the program being city residents, according to Thoms.
Thoms said this past year, there has been great success working with the school district, which has been providing FireSmart education in science classes at Brooks Secondary School, as well as elementary schools.
“It’s all about trying to teach the next generation and move that forward, so it’s a great program,” said Thoms.
There is also ongoing training with the region’s fire departments. He said there have also been community education opportunities, such as at the Thursday night markets near Willingdon Beach.
“There’s lots of good projects going on and we want to keep doing that into next year,” said Thoms. “We’re modestly increasing our budget to keep supporting that, and we’re looking for grant funding of up to $80,000 to keep doing that.”
Councillor Maggie Hathaway said she is supportive and has heard from a few people who have utilized the program, who are pleased they have participated.
“It’s been good service and good fire prevention, so I support the recommendation,” said Hathaway.
The committee gave consent to send the matter to city council for endorsement.
