Ahead of the flames: Preparing Canadian homes and communities to limit the growing risk of wildfire
In 2023, Canada experienced a wildfire season of unprecedented scale, shattering the previous record set in 1995 by twofold, and contributing to insurable losses estimated to exceed $3 billion (according to CatIQ). Fires burned an estimated 18.5 million hectares—eight times greater than the average annual area burned over the past 25 years. Smoke and flames triggered the evacuation of 200,000 residents and ignited nation-wide calls for large-scale investment in preventative action to create wildfire-ready homes and communities.
A new report, by the University of Waterloo’s Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation, offers practical guidance to help Canadians living in forested and grassland regions to follow well-tested actions that can reduce the risk of their home burning by up to 75 per cent.
The report consolidates two plain-language, image-based infographics, designed to accelerate the implementation of practical actions.
Three Steps to a Cost-Effective FireSmartTM Home is a step-wise guide to maintain and upgrade homes to resist wildfire. Initiatives can include simple measures such as storing wood away from the house or more complex initiatives include installing Class A fire-rated roofing (asphalt, cement fibre or metal), limiting the potential for embers to ignite a roof.
Three Features of a Wildfire-Ready Community provides guidance to limit risk beyond the home, such as removing vegetation around power lines, incorporating fire breaks into community design, and ensuring adequate water supply for firefighting.
An estimated 60 per cent of Canadian communities are vulnerable to wildfire due to their proximity to forests and grasslands. Wildfire risk in these communities is escalating due to factors, like urban and industrial expansion, absence of national building standards against wildfires, the accumulation of flammable vegetation near structures, and increased fuel from a century of fire suppression—all heightened by climate change.
“Climate change is lengthening the wildfire season, contributing to larger, and more destructive wildfires, and impacting areas across Canada historically not considered wildfire-prone, such as the Halifax-area wildfire that destroyed over 200 buildings in 2023,” explained study co-author Cheryl Evans, Director of Flood and Wildfire Resilience, Intact Centre. The Intact Centre’s work is the latest in Waterloo’s sustainability research, education and innovation efforts to benefit the environment, economy and society.
The report presents a user-friendly synthesis of best practice guidance developed primarily by the National Research Council, and FireSmartTM Canada, a national program that has been helping communities improve their wildfire resilience for 30 years.
“Wildfire is a fact of life in Canada,” said Dr. Mike Flannigan, BC Innovation Research Chair in Predictive Services, Emergency Management and Fire Science, Thompson Rivers University. “This report helps to translate climate change and wildfire research into practical guidance that residents and community leaders can apply to learn to live with wildfire.”
Michael Norton, Director General, Northern Forestry, Natural Resources Canada, highlights that the report “provides concise, user-friendly guidance that fosters participation, raises awareness, and supports on the ground action from the whole-of-society to strengthen home and community wildfire resilience.”
As emphasized during the COP 28 talks, Canadians living in forested and grassland regions can create wildfire-ready homes and communities today and minimize the financial and social burden of hotter and drier wildfire seasons of tomorrow.