Councillors in Halifax have asked city staff to come up with strategies that will prepare the municipality better for fires in high-risk areas.
The request came about three months after over one hundred suburban homes were vandalized in a blaze that took firefighters one week to fully curb.
Recently, a motion for creating wildland-urban interface (WUI) preparedness strategies was passed by regional councillors.
These are areas where large forest stands come right up to people’s homes and are often seen in suburban or rural areas but could also include neighbourhoods close to large parks like Point Pleasant.
During the meeting, Coun. Pam Lovelace said: “This work should be done, should’ve been done long ago, it needs to be done and it is our role to ensure it’s done.”
The Upper Tantallon started on May 28 in Westwood Hills, a neighbourhood off Hammonds Plains Road approximately 25 kilometres outside Halifax. Officials have said that over 200 structures were destroyed during the wildfire, including 151 homes.
The motion was a joint one between Lovelace and downtown Halifax representative Coun. Waye Mason.
The motion asks staff to list communities in forested areas that require more emergency evacuation routes and water sources and identify any hindrance standing in the way of those projects.
Also, the motion suggests the need for secondary evacuation routes and emergency water sources for both new and “expanding” developments. Some existing neighbourhoods in Halifax that were constructed with only one way in and out are still adding homes, and according to Mason, it’s important to clarify whether the municipality can add conditions to future development.
During an interview, Mason said: “[We] just can’t keep having people building family homes further and further into the woods until we actually have all those things in place.”
The motion also asks staff to determine whether Halifax should consider changing building codes and land-use bylaws for these areas, including needing inflammable materials like engineered wood or fibre cement.
Other ideas could be permanent fire breaks, and the need that homes can be landscaped following FireSmart standards. FireSmart Canada is a national program that seeks to reduce the risks of wildfire by creating buffer zones around homes and using fire-resistant plants.
Mason said: “Part of the attraction of living in the wildland-urban interface is, you know, having a house that feels like a treehouse,
“To change how you build … but still allowing people to live out there — that can be a problem, that can be difficult for people. We need to have a very robust community conversation.”
Furthermore, the motion asks staff to explore a joint working group for Halifax and the province to address issues faster and let councillors know what actions fall under municipal control and could be taken immediately.
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