JASPER – After losing 358 structures in last summer’s wildfire, Jasper is planning to rebuild in a way that keeps FireSmart top of mind.
Last fall, Jasper’s land-use policy and architectural motif were updated to improve the wildfire resilience of new buildings.
“Typically, in building codes, they think about a fire starting inside a building and keeping it from moving to other parts of a building, but FireSmart is really thinking about when the fire comes from outside and a building igniting, and we want to minimize the opportunities for a building to ignite,” said Beth Sanders, the Municipality of Jasper’s director of urban design and standards.
According to , new wood siding or roofing is prohibited, including cedar shakes. Homes are required to have a 1.5-metre buffer zone of non-flammable materials, and new coniferous trees must be planted at least 10 metres away from a building.
The new rules ensure structures are minimally at risk when wildfire embers are falling on them or nearby, which is how many buildings in Jasper caught fire last summer.
Parks Canada, which has land-use authority but is in the process of transferring it to the municipality, made these changes soon after the wildfire so leaseholders could immediately start planning their rebuild.
Sanders noted that other at-risk communities were interested in implementing similar building restrictions, although some with a lower risk of wildfire may choose to be less aggressive in their policies.
“We can be sure that Banff, Canmore, Valemount, all sorts of B.C. communities that are in the forest are paying attention to what can happen when there’s fire near a town,” Sanders said.
Jasper officials are not considering any further FireSmart rules, nor will they force leaseholders to upgrade existing buildings, the exception being if they wanted to renovate their building.
“Just to use the example of cedar shingles, we can’t require somebody to switch them, though if they are changing their roofing materials and they need a permit from Parks. Right now, Parks is going to be looking for a material that’s noncombustible,” Sanders said.
Sanders strongly encouraged anyone in town with combustible materials on their roof, their building’s sides or within 1.5 metres of the structure to replace them with noncombustible materials.
Jasper Fire Chief Mathew Conte described how cedar-shake roofs presented a significant challenge for fire crews the night of July 24 when the wildfire reached the townsite.
As embers rained down, multiple roof fires started up in town, quickly taxing crews as they tried to action one fire and move on to the next.
Conte also noted how wood decks, wood piles and debris in the yard were all catching points for embers, leading to multiple spot fires around town.
Conte was supportive of the new rules that follow FireSmart principles, ensuring noncombustible materials would be used for new buildings.
“Obviously, it’s a little harder to implement on existing structures, so all we can really do is just continue with those home assessments on those structures and coach those residents on ways that they can help mitigate those hazards that could affect their home going forward,” he said.
Mike Flannigan, a wildfire expert and British Columbia Innovation Research Chair at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, B.C., was also supportive of the new policies but advocated for making them mandatory for all structures, not just new ones, in high-risk locations. The insurance industry would help push this process along as wildfires cause more insured losses.
One of the biggest dangers is if embers cause a property to catch fire, this blaze could spread to other properties, even to those where the owner did their due diligence when it comes to FireSmart.
“You’re only as strong as your weakest link, so that’s why I say we have to move towards mandatory,” Flannigan said. “I’ll leave it to the decision-makers on how to get there. As I say, insurance is going to force some communities to get there a lot quicker than they would otherwise get there.”
At-risk communities should also invest in a sprinkler system that can quickly be deployed to protect infrastructure from falling embers.
“It’s not cheap, but losing a third of your town is even more expensive than the cost of having some structural protection sprinklers available at quick notice,” Flannigan said.
Despite most of the surrounding forest around Jasper having burned down, Flannigan said fire could still come from the valley west of the townsite.
“To be honest, I’m more concerned about Banff than I am [Jasper] because two of the three valleys that lead to Jasper were recently burned, whereas Banff, that’s not the case, and it’s kind of overdue,” he added. “I would expect a significant fire in the Bow Valley sometime in the next 10 years.”
With climate change leading to more extreme weather and more human development on the landscape, Flannigan predicts Canada will continue to see disasters like the Jasper wildfire.
Even under extreme conditions, however, fires can be put out if there is an aggressive initial attack within 30 minutes.
“The boots on the ground put the fire out, but you got to get them there within that narrow window in extreme conditions,” Flannigan said. “If it’s not extreme, it’s not a big deal. If it’s extreme, 30 minutes, and if you miss that window, the horse has left the barn, and you’re now out of luck.”
