24 FIRE fight
“The enormity of this event was unprecedented,” says Cox. “High fuel load, high winds and multiple lightning strikes created an incredible situation.” Worse, when they called in
the fire, they were told to fend for themselves. “With other fires
threatening communities like Williams Lake, 100 Mile House and Cache Creek, we were not going to get help with a fire on our range land.” “You may have a plan but with 1,000 cow-calf pairs out on range, you find the holes in your plan pretty quick,” says Cox. Access to town for food, fuel and supplies was restricted along Highway 20, the only road through the area. There were confrontations between ranchers and RCMP over access until permitting systems, based on premises ID, were put in place. “We have pumps and we
have hoses we can run; we were building Cat guards, but after a couple of weeks those fuel tanks that we keep topped up were running low.
nfrom page 23
Some of our neighbours were literally running out of food.” Communication was a
problem because telephone and Internet lines were down, and cell service was also cut.
Plan essential
Cox says farmers owe it to themselves as well as to the livestock who give them a living to have an emergency preparedness plan. “If you have to move your
dairy herd, where are they going to go?” she asks. “It is our responsibility to look after our own livestock. … We were able to get our cattle down off the range and corral them in the middle of our hay fields. We had done a lot of planning but some places were better off than us and some were worse.” She considers it
“miraculous” that despite everything that could go wrong, the fires didn’t claim a single human life. Messelink says the fires of 2017 showed just how under- prepared farmers are. “It’s important to get
conversations starting here on the island,“ he says.
Make a plan and get fire smart
DUNCAN – Vancouver Island livestock farmers have an excellent resource when it comes to developing a farm emergency plan.
The Cowichan Valley Emergency
Planning for Livestock was developed as part of the BC Agriculture & Food Climate Action Initiative’s work with producers in the Cowichan Valley. Within its 23 pages are a farm emergency plan template and guide. It contains sections on what to do before, during and after an emergency. But risk reduction begins with assessment, something anyone can do by conducting a simple walk-through noting and assessing hazards. Some 30 participants followed BC
Wildfire Service wildfire technician Dimitri Vaisius as he conducted a walk-through of two Cowichan Valley properties during a workshop prior to the Islands Agriculture Show at the beginning of February. Vaisius recommends that farmers have someone else join them, noting that it’s always better to have a second pair of eyes so farmers don’t miss something because of their familiarity with their property. “It might be hard to imagine the threat of
a fire right now,” Vaisius quipped as the skies opened and participants turned up their collars against the rain. While the guide developed for Cowichan
Valley farmers contains a number of suggestions to mitigate wildfire risk, Vaisius’ own reference is the FireSmart manual developed by Emergency Management BC. Being “fire smart” includes removing
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obvious fire hazards and burn points to separate important buildings such as residences and barns from the path of a potential fire. Think of it as creating a non- burn space around your buildings. FireSmart recommends clearing a 10-
metre space of non-combustibles from around the perimeter of buildings and gives guidelines of 10-30 metres and beyond 30 metres. A green space free of any dry grass or leaves will is sufficient. A green irrigated hay field will not burn, Vaisius point out. “But watch out when the hay is cured and it is waiting to be baled.”
It’s important to pay attention to the
trees growing near buildings. Deciduous trees like aspen or birch are much less likely to burn than a cedar or a Douglas fir. Conifers should have their lower limbs trimmed and overhanging branches cut back. (This applies to coniferous shrubs, too.)
Clear away piles of wood and debris from the side of your barn and the wood supply stacked against your house as these are a potential fuel source when fire approaches. A structure with a metal or asphalt roof and metal siding is much easier to defend than one with cedar shingles and vinyl. “When I land in a helicopter at a farm site
in an active fire zone, I’m often looking at which buildings I have the most chance of saving with the limited resources that I have,” Vaisius explains. “If I have to choose, I might disregard the one with the cedar roof.”
Don’t discount the fire-fighting potential
role your above-ground swimming pool. Vasius said crews can easily run a
sprinkler system from a domestic pool to protect a house. Rainwater harvesting tanks can be useful, too, as will any type of pond or dugout. “Be sure to flag a path through the trees
over to your pond so it will be easy for crews to find that water,” said Vaisius. The guide that accompanies the template offered in the Cowichan Valley manual notes the following strengths of an emergency plan: • Helps farmers make decisions while there is time to calmly consider options and to collect specific information that may be difficult to obtain in a crisis.
• Informs family members, farm staff, neighbours and first responders how they can help during an emergency. • Helps producers intending to return to the farm during or after an evacuation order.
• Reduces harm to farm operations, assets and livestock. • Demonstrates “due diligence” when negotiating with insurance providers. —Tom Walker
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Tom DeWa y Hennig
Angus Convention & Annual Meeting
June 7th -10th Courtenay, BC
om DeWaal President 250.960.0022 Carley Henniger Secretary 250.571.3475
BRITISH COLUMBIA ANGUS ASSOCIATION
www.bcangus.ca 2018 Canadian
ANGUS BULLS
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