I had meant to reply to this discussion last week – but it is important to the South Okanagan Similkameen Fire Chiefs Association that I comment as their President and ask that we continue with this topic over the winter.
First I must say that
I am thankful and relieved that Aim has suspended mowing until conditions change.
Fire Departments as well are in receipt of concerns and complaints regarding many activities during high and extreme Fire Danger. Some Departments have expressed their concerns to the local maintenance contractor staff and for some high risk activities we have made our concerns known to BC Wildfire Service. This is not a new topic and has been an ongoing concern for many years. The topic has been discussed at least twice in the past 4 years at our Regional Fire Chief meetings. The concerns as I recall from those meetings were safety with line of sight, safety for wildlife crossing the roadways, mowing as a fire prevention tool and finally mowing as a Wildfire ignition source. And the question being- how do we balance the needs?
I have pulled information from BC Wildfire Regulations, timing for sunset, MOTI contract specs for mowing which I believe are important for all too see and at the end I will make some comments and recommendations.
Roadside mowing is listed as a High risk activity in the BC Wildfire Regulations. It is specifically mentioned in (h) below.
“high risk activity” means
(a)mechanical brushing;
(b)disk trenching;
(c)preparation or use of explosives;
(d)using fire- or spark-producing tools, including cutting tools;
(e)using or preparing fireworks or pyrotechnics;
(f)grinding, including rail grinding;
(g)mechanical land clearing;
(h)clearing and maintaining rights of way, including grass mowing;
(i)any of the following activities carried out in a cutblock excluding a road, landing, roadside work area or log sort area in the cutblock:
(i)operating a power saw;
(ii)mechanical tree felling, woody debris piling or tree processing, including de-limbing;
(iii)welding;
(iv)portable wood chipping, milling, processing or manufacturing;
(v)skidding logs or log forwarding unless it is improbable that the skidding or forwarding will result in the equipment contacting rock;
(vi)yarding logs using cable systems;
(j) to (q)Repealed. [B.C. Reg. 213/2008, s. 1 (b).]
For High Risk Activities the BC Wildfire Regulation places specific requirements for anyone carrying out a high risk activity. This includes timeframes when these requirements are required, a system to determine the Fire Danger and potential of a fire starting and spreading. The regulation defines a list of restrictions by danger class and firefighting requirements. Finally it lists a fire watch with applicable requirements. I will point out that this is a Provincial minimum requirement and does not limit the person carrying out the activity to exceed these requirements or develop local best practises to meet the local need. The regulation states:
High risk activities
6 (1)Repealed. [B.C. Reg. 213/2008, s. 3 (a).]
(2)A person who carries out a high risk activity on or within 300 m of forest land or grass land on or after March 1 and before November 1, unless the area is snow covered, must determine the Fire Danger Class for the location of the activity
(a)by reference to representative weather data for the area,
(b)by reference to
(i)the Danger Region from Schedule 1,
(ii)the applicable numerical rating under the Buildup Index, and
(iii)the applicable numerical rating under the Fire Weather Index, and
(c)by cross-referencing the Buildup Index with the Fire Weather Index, for the applicable Danger Region, under Schedule 2.
(3)If there is a risk of a fire starting or spreading, a person carrying out a high risk activity on or within 300 m of forest land or grass land must
(a)do so in accordance with the applicable restriction and duration set out in Schedule 3 for the Fire Danger Class, and
(b)keep at the activity site
(i)fire fighting hand tools, in a combination and type to properly equip each person who works at the site with a minimum of one fire fighting hand tool, and
(ii)an adequate fire suppression system.
(4)A person who, in accordance with subsection (3) (a) and Schedule 3, is required to maintain a fire watcher, must ensure that the fire watcher
(a)can reasonably see the site of the high risk activity during the time the fire watcher is required,
(b)has at least one fire fighting hand tool,
(c)actively watches and patrols for sparks and fires on the site of the high risk activity,
(d)immediately carries out fire control and extinguishes the fire, if practicable, and
(e)has the means on site to report the fire.
[en. B.C. Reg. 75/2006, s. 2; am. B.C. Reg. 213/2008, s. 3.]
I would like to point out that there is a separation between Fire Watch and the person actually doing the work in section 3 and 4 above. Each person must have a proper fire fighting hand tool and in addition there must be an adequate Fire suppression system. It has been past practise for Maintenance Contractor to use Water Tenders as a adequate fire Suppression system.
Restrictions on High Risk Activities are based on Fire Danger Class for the areas where the activity is occurring. In this instance I believe this activity should have considered the McCuddy and Penticton RS calculations – Both indicated Danger Class IV with some Danger Class V in the week before the incident. The minimal requirements would be Item 3 below.
Restrictions on High Risk Activities
| Item | Column 1 Fire Danger Class (DGR) |
Column 2 Restriction |
Column 3 Duration |
| 1 | III (moderate) | After 3 consecutive days of DGR III or greater, maintain a fire watcher after work for a minimum of one hour | Until after the fire danger class falls below DGR III |
| 2 | IV (high) | Maintain a fire watcher after work for a minimum of 2 hours | Until after the fire danger class falls to DGR III for 2 consecutive days or falls below DGR III |
| 3 | After 3 consecutive days of DGR IV, cease activity between 1 p.m. Pacific Daylight Saving Time and sunset each day | ||
| 4 | V (extreme) | Cease activity between 1 p.m. Pacific Daylight Saving Time and sunset each day and maintain a fire watcher after work for a minimum of 2 hours | Until after the fire danger class falls below DGR IV for 2 or more consecutive days |
| After 3 consecutive days of DGR V, cease activity all day | Until after the fire danger class falls to DGR IV for 3 or more consecutive days or falls below DGR IV |
Item 3 in the restrictions is very definitive as too the timeframe that activity must cease. This again is a Provincial minimum and should not restrict local best practices. The purpose of this restriction is to limit activities during high temperature and low relative humidity periods during the day. I believe local best practices needs to better follow the critical temperature and relative humidity periods.
I will point out that for July 29th sunset was at 8:42 pm in Oliver BC. I gathered this time from an internet search. I would question if the mowing was occurring within the requirements of the regulations given timing noted in the various emails.
On July 20th the Province declared a Provincial State of Emergency due to Wildfires. Every news outlet was reporting on the Fire Danger and how strapped the Province was for resources.
The Thomas Creek Wildfire started on July 11th. The Nk’Mip fire started on July 19th – both were very visible and had much media attention. All Regional Distric fire Departments in the South Okanagan Similkameen responded to the Anarchist Mtn and McCuddy Creek area to support fire actions. On the date of this incident Willowbrook Volunteer Fire Department we assisting the Province.
The MOTI contract information does not mention anything about the number of times that mowing needs to occur or anything about timing. I am certain the contract does state that the contractor must abide by other provincial regulations (ie Fire restrictions).
Comments:
My comments that can be reviewed in the fall if necessary:
· Roadside mowing and other road maintenance work have started wildfires in the past. This is why it is specifically mentioned (personal information from Gaudry).
· Roadside mowing if timed appropriately can be a tool to help with ignition prevention on roadsides from tossed sources such as Cigarettes.
· Best practices for roadside mowing should consider more detail than projected danger class and look at including temperature, relative humidity and wind information to the specific location.
· What is best practise for fire watchman over a long growing corridor in interior drybelt fuel types with many values at risk. Is a pickup with handtools for 2 enough?
· In 2019 the Kaleden Firesmart Committee queried mowing timing as it relates to ignition sources and queried MOTI.
· All Fire Departments within the Regional District are advised daily during morning Radio checks of the “Forecasted” Fire danger for their Fire District. This forecast is received each day. The daily actual danger is for 13:00 hours and is updated on the public website at about 14:00 hours.
· All South Okanagan Regional District Fire Departments have a basic understanding of not only the Fire Danger rating but also the specific indices within that rating. Some Fire Chiefs are very in tune with the specifics and share that information with the rest. This is why the concern presented itself.
· Although the Province sets regulation on high risk activities it is the local Fire Department with a service area that are responsible for Wildfire Suppression. The province may assist. I point this out to show the local concern.
· Fire Departments are responsible to Prevent fires under our bylaw and this incident should be seen in that way.
Recommendations:
· Any high risk activity needs too be carefully reviewed given the state of Wildfire suppression in the province. I encourage AIM and MOTI to consider this.
· SOSFCA make a recommendation to the Province directly and/or through the Regional district about their concern in our area – this fall once the fire Season has calmed down.
· SOSFCA will be recommending that during provincial States of Emergency high risk activities be closely reviewed.
· This group consider a meeting/workshop with MOTI/BCWS/RDOS/SOSFCA and AIM to further discuss
Finally – I believe we are all looking at one common theme – Safety. Safety to the travelling public/ safety to our residents and businesses and most importantly safety to our staff or members. My hope is that we can continue this discussion when Wildfire risk settles down and develop a common understanding of all our concerns and develop a plan to move forward.
Denis G. Gaudry Kaleden
President
South Okanagan Similkameen Fire Chief Association