Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions

Acknowledgements

The project team would like to thank the following people for their guidance and support in completing this project:

• The many attendees of our webinar series and focus groups, who saw this project come into reality and offered feedback along the way.
• Gil Davies, West Moberly First Nations building manager, and West Moberly Chief and Council, who contributed so thoroughly through their comments, advice, and consistent participation in our workshops.
• James Bourget (RDH Building Science) for imparting his knowledge and guidance on fire resilient building materials at our webinars.
• Niki Lindstrom for her dedication as a collaborator and champion on this project.
• Patrick Michell (Nlaka’pamux Nation Elder; Rebuild Director for Lytton First Nation) for his willingness to share his support, guidance, and knowledge.

The Fire Resilient Communities Handbook would not be the tool that it is today without the contributions, kindness, and expertise of those who collaborated and contributed to this project. Thank you.

Fire resilience is distinct to each community, meaning every community may need distinct supports and tools to support their resilience. A community’s infrastructure, residents, capacity, and values will all influence fire resilience.

The handbook aims to:

• Be engaging for everyone, at every age.
• Serve as a resource guide for housing, maintenance, capital, infrastructure and other managers, residents, and homeowners.
• Provide practical information on fire mitigation strategies.
• Be a source of capacity-building ideas, activities, and programs for communities.

This handbook is grounded in the principle of building resilience for future generations, drawing on the knowledge and experiences of the generations who came before us. Building fire-resilient communities for future generations should be rooted in past, present, and future innovations. The resources in this guide aim to acknowledge and honour Indigenous knowledges, building styles, and governance systems.

Resilience facilitates recovery, empowering individuals to support each other and strengthen their community’s capacity.

Handbook Chapters

Community Planning Toolkit

Practical resources and tools to support community and household-level planning & fire preparedness.

Fire Primer

Information on how fires spread and home ignition zones.

Air Quality

Information and resources about the effect of increased wildfires on air quality

Housing & Building Materials

Guides on designing, building, or retrofitting fire-resilient infrastructure.

Capacity Building Resources

Funding community fire resilience

This section provides resources to help both households and communities prepare for fires.

British Columbia Fire Resilience Calendar

Before, during, and after fire season, communities can plan for fire resilience and host events that promote fire preparedness at the household scale. The following calendar provides suggestions for important dates and potential community events to promote engagement in fire safety planning. These are examples. Every community will differ in seasonality, landscape, planning, and resources. FireSmart^TM practices should be maintained year-round.

‘Go’ Bag

Useful for more than just fires, a ‘go’ bag is a collection of supplies a household keeps ready in a portable kit in case of emergency. They can save time and stress in case of an urgent need to evacuate. Even if you do not have the means or space for a dedicated bag of separate items, being aware of where these items are in your living space can make evacuations more efficient.

In addition to the general list of items below, go bags should be adapted to fit a household’s health, cultural, and personal needs. As examples:

• Identification may include a passport, driver’s license, health card, birth certificate, permanent resident card, visa, and/or status card.
• The First Nations Health Authority’s example kit, made by their Vancouver Coastal Health Emergency Management Team, includes Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish) canned sockeye salmon, plant medicines, and a sage & cedar bundle. Different nations may have culturally significant plants and/or medications that could be included in a kit.

Fire Preparedness Tip: In addition to packing supplies, Technical Safety BC has information on preparations you should consider for electrical and gas safety. Unplugging non-essential electrical appliances, turning off valves, shutting off the water, and clearing combustible material near propane storage tanks can minimise the impact of fires. If your natural gas is supplied by Fortis BC or Pacific Northern Gas, do not shut off your natural gas. If you are on propane or your gas is supplied by another entity, shut of the main gas supply.

📄: Go Bag Checklist

Download the PDF

📄: Go Bag Colouring Page

Download the PDF

Emergency Preparedness Kits

It may not always be possible or desirable to evacuate. Emergency preparedness kits will have many of the same items as a go bag, but are intended for sheltering in place during an emergency situation. In addition to the items in a go bag, they should include:

• Food for at least three days. In remote areas with limited access and exit routes, food for 7-10 days is ideal.
• A one-week supply of water, which should be replaced once a year.
• Garbage bags and towelettes.
• Lantern and fuel for light. Be sure that any fuel is stored outside and away from a heat source.
• Bush cooking stove for cooking outside. Be sure that any fuel is stored outside and away from a heat source.

Supply lists for kits have been produced by the Government of BC and the Red Cross (page 11 of the PDF). You may need additional supplies if you keep animals or have specialised equipment or tools with maintenance needs.

Fire Preparedness Tip: Once you’ve put together your kits, it’s important to check on them regularly. You’ll want to ensure that any perishables haven’t spoiled, that all equipment still works (e.g., you may need to replace old batteries), and that your information is up-to-date. Set yourself a reminder on your calendar if you use one!

Community Tool Sheds

Enacting fire resilient strategies often requires access to physical tools. A community tool shed, or tool library, can provide community members with access to tools they might not otherwise have, which can help everyone maintain a fire resilient community. Community tool sheds often operate like a library, with sign out sheets and membership cards to keep track of shared tools. They may come from collaborations with the local public library, community center, or through grassroots initiative.  

Potential items that might be in a community shed include: 

• Buckets 
• Gardening or hedge clippers 
• Lawn mowers and grass trimmers 
• Rakes  
• Shovels 
• Wheelbarrows 

The Toronto Tool Library is an excellent example of a potential model for a community tool shed. 

Map Your Community: Community Assets and Evacuation Routes

Community Asset Mapping

When planning for emergencies, an inventory of critical infrastructure can be useful to identify coordinated evacuation points, potential hubs for emergency services, and which buildings should be prioritised when funding upgrades for climate resilience. For example, critical infrastructure buildings might be the first to receive formal FireSmart assessments.

Which locations are identified as critical infrastructure is community-dependent and should be informed by community values and priorities. Potential critical infrastructure types include:

• Animal welfare shelters;
• Cultural, community, and recreation centres;
• Fire halls;
• Halls or other large gathering places;
• Libraries;
• Museums and archives;
• Operations centres;
• Schools and other educational facilities;
• Youth centres and preschools;

Evacuation Routes

Fires may require communities to evacuate quickly and on very short notice. Mapping out potential evacuation routes ahead of time can aid with safe and lower-stress evacuations.

Steps to mapping your community:

1. Grab a blank or grid piece of paper. You could also print/annotate a conventional reference map of your community if you have one handy.
2. Start with key landmarks that are important to you, such as your home, key landscape features like a river or mountain etc., and add them to your map.
3. Next, identify fire halls, cooling centres, and/or safe shelter sites that you might evacuate to in the event of a fire.
4. Identify the location of exit points (i.e., the start of the highway or another road out of town).
5. Some areas within a community may be more vulnerable to fire than others i.e., if they have an abundance of dry, uncleared vegetation that could serve as fuel for a fire. Identify these areas to ensure your evacuation routes avoid them whenever possible, as they may be blocked off or other inaccessible in the event of a fire.
6. Based on the location of your home and key sites for potential evacuation, determine and draw out viable, safe evacuation routes.

Keep your map easily accessible (perhaps in your go-bag!) in case of evacuation.

This exercise might also reveal areas where community planning could reduce the vulnerability of community assets and infrastructures (i.e., through hosting regular vegetation clearing events or other fire preparedness tasks).

Fire Preparedness Tip: If you keep farm animals (horses, chickens, etc.), you may want to consider special arrangements for their relocation if possible. Some regional districts have emergency plans for livestock (e.g., Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District’s emergency plan for farms, the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako’s resources) that may be applicable to non-commercial animals as well.

📄: Evacuation Map Worksheet

Download the PDF

📄: Evacuation Map Worksheet for Children

Map Your Community: The Fire Resilient Map

Communities all over the province are engaging in fire preparedness activities. Share stories about places in your community that contribute to fire resilience by adding a pin to The Fire Resilient Map.

Responses are moderated and may not appear immediately after submission. Please ensure that you have permission to share any stories you post to the map.

Some of these submissions are from British Columbia FireSmart’s Success Stories.

Link to the map for easier viewing on mobile.

Other Community Planning Resources

The following resources are not produced or maintained by the project.

Understanding how fires spread across a landscape helps communities determine how best to mitigate wildfire risk to community infrastructure and homes.

Communities across British Columbia are finding practical and creative ways to protect themselves from wildfire smoke. From building your own portable air purifiers to establishing dedicated clean-air spaces in community gathering spaces, there are simple and cost-effective measures that you and your community can take to protect your well-being and health.  

Air Quality Primer

Community Planning to Support Air Quality

Drawing primarily from the District of Chetwynd, West Moberly First Nations, and Saulteau First Nations Extreme Heat Mapping Assessment and Extreme Heat Response Plan , this section suggests potential actions when planning for wildfire smoke safety.

📄: Wildfire Smoke Safety Community Planning Checklist

Download the PDF

📄: Wildfire Smoke Safety Household Planning Checklist

Download the PDF

📄: Wildfire Smoke Safety for Children

Download the PDF

Preparing for Wildfire Smoke

Responding During Wildfire Smoke

Other Wildfire Smoke & Air Quality Resources

The following resources are not produced or maintained by the project.

Innovations in building materials and best practices can aid in designing more fire-resilient housing. This section covers information on those materials and best practices. Recognising that homes often extend beyond a human-constructed structure, it also includes resources with information about fire-resilient landscaping.

Fire-Resilient Building Materials

Rammed Earth

4-hour fire rating

Rammed earth is made from compacted layers of earth. It can be used for infill walls with steel or timber framing and for load-bearing walls. Estimated cost of $250-$350/square foot, with some materials available locally in BC.

Straw Bale

1-2-hour fire rating with plaster, 30 minutes without.

Straw bale can be used for infill with timber or steel-frame walls. Estimated cost of $180-$208/square foot, with local materials largely available in BC.

Cob

2-4-hour fire rating.

Cob is made from clay, straw, sand, water, and lime, all of which are widely available within BC. Cob is often used for infill post and beam/timber framing walls. Cob can be used for load-bearing walls depending on the climate.

Hempcrete

1-hour (or more) fire rating.

Hempcrete blocks are made from hemp, lime, and water. Their low compressive strength means they are typically used as infill in walls within a timber or steel frame. Materials widely available locally.

Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (AAC)

2-4-hour fire rating

Mineral-based building material made from sand, water, limestone, cement, and aluminum powder cured under high heat/pressure in an autoclave. AAC blocks can be used for load-bearing walls or cladding. Limited availability within Canada.

Mass Timber

3+ hour fire rating

Mass timber construction uses engineered wood products, such as cross-laminated timber (CLT), glulam, and nail-laminated timber (NLT), which are formed by bonding layers of wood with adhesives or fasteners. Surface char creates a protective layer. In BC, relatively high costs of $400–$450 per square foot.

External Resources

Other organisations and groups have produced resources about fire-resilient housing, building materials, and landscaping. The resources below are not produced or maintained by the project.

Click on a card for more details about the funding program.