It’s time to get FireSmart, NWT!
Are you and your community ready for wildfire season? We’re here to help make sure you’re prepared when and where it counts.
Overview
FireSmart means taking steps to reduce the risk of damage from wildfire when it hits close to home or things you value.
That means:
- Keeping the area surrounding homes, cabins, and communities clear of things that can burn
- Managing vegetation
- Understanding fire behaviour and how to use the environment to your advantage
- Working together to reduce wildfire risk to communities
While this seems like a big task, FireSmart is here to help you get started with simple, proven steps toward reducing wildfire risk at your home, cabin, community, or business.
It’s a year-round effort – and we’re here to help.
Why it’s important
Northerners have experienced the real dangers wildfire can pose. Many are unaware of the tried and tested practices proven to reduce risk for homes – and how simple steps can make a real difference.
FireSmart is your go-to source for the best information, resources, and certified local experts who can help identify the risks around your house and neighbourhood.
Most importantly, these essential tools provide you with real solutions that you can use today to bring more peace of mind in wildfire season.
Whether the wildfire danger is low or extreme – the stakes are always high. Having a FireSmart home, cabin, camp, community, or business means more resiliency to wildfire.
Who is it for?
FireSmart is at its core a grassroots movement, bringing people and organizations together to prepare our territory for wildfire.
From homeowners and cabin-owners, to business-owners and emergency responders, FireSmart is intended for everyone.
FireSmart resources for you
Check out resources and programs empowering you to get FireSmart – and contacts for experts who can help you along the way:
- For homes, cabins, and camps
- For neighbourhoods, communities, and governments
- For businesses and industry
- For fire departments
The Seven Disciplines
FireSmart is founded on 7 disciplines.
The disciplines address wildfire preparedness from different angles. They are:
- Legislation & planning: making sure wildfire prevention is built-in to how governments of all levels do business – and planning for the future.
- Education: making sure people young and old have the knowledge they need to reduce wildfire risk at home, at work, or in their communities.
- Development considerations: making sure practices that can reduce wildfire risk are considered in all developments – community, industrial, and otherwise.
- Vegetation management: practices that can be done by non-specialists
- Emergency planning: ensuring there are good plans in-place to respond to
- Training: ensuring professionals are well-trained on FireSmart principles.
- Inter-agency cooperation: working together with Indigenous governments, Indigenous organizations, communities, fire departments, and wildfire agencies across Canada and around the globe to share information about best practices on reducing wildfire risk.
Together, these disciplines help educate and prepare residents, their homes, neighbourhoods, critical infrastructure and vital natural resources from wildfire.
This is a shared responsibility involving all homeowners, neighbourhood leaders, all levels of government and participation from the private sector.
Backed by research
FireSmart is based on foundational scientific evidence that suggests changes to the built environment are the best and most cost-effective way to help your home, cabin, camp, community, or business survive when wildfire comes.
FireSmart standards are proven to decrease the likelihood of loss and damage from wildfire.