Subject: Making Your Home/Cottage FireSmart
Introduction:
This lesson plan will assist fire service personnel to present information on
how to protect rural or wildland/urban interface homes and cottages to groups
such as cottage associations, homeowners and the public. It is intended to
introduce the public to:
- The concept of protecting rural and forest homes and cottages from
wildfires.
- Terminology used in protecting property from wildfires.
- The identification of potential risks around a forest home or cottage.
- The identification of potential mitigation techniques to reduce the risk of
loss or damage to property from wildfires
Learning Outcomes:
Participants will:
- Understand what is meant by wildland/urban interface or Intermix
- Identify why protecting property from the threat of wildfire is their own
responsibility
- Identify ways to protect their forest homes and properties from wildfires.
Participants are expected to:
- Listen attentively
- Participate in group discussions
- Ask questions for clarification and understanding
- Answer instructor questions.
Additional Resources:
Key Points and Terms
- Wildland/Urban Interface
- Forest fire behaviour terms (Fuel types; Ladder fuels; Ignition)
- Interface Priority Zones
- Home survivability
- Fire Risk Rating
- Site Hazards (Trees; Ladder fuels; Ground cover; Brush piles; Fuel storage;
Ground slope)
- Structural Hazards (Roofing; Foundation; Exterior Walls; Decks/Overhangs;
Windows
Student Learning Activity
- Listen
- Take notes
- Ask questions
- Observe
- Read booklet
- Listen
- Take notes
- Ask questions
- Observe
References and Resources
- FireSmart Home Owner Manual
- Videos (FireSmart; Preventing Home Ignitions)
- FireSmart Home Owner manual
- Additional photocopies of assessment checklist
- If not on location, pictures of interface structure with hazards and a
similar structure without hazards
Trainer/Facilitator Activity
- Introduce yourself
- If appropriate, ask participants how many of them have homes/camps/cottages
located in or near a forested area
- Explain fire behaviour, what forest fires need to grow, etc.
- Ask for examples of hazards that would increase the fire “risk” of a
property if a wildfire approached
- Tell participants about fire risk ratings and what they mean
- Discuss what may make a particular building high or low risk
- List terms on flip chart
- Distribute booklet and risk assessment sheet
- Highlight key points in booklet, i.e. site selection, vegetation management
- Demonstrate how to use a risk assessment sheet
- For practical exercises there are 2 options:1. If at a location with an
actual building in the “interface” go outside and conduct an assessment of
property either individually or as a group; 2. If not at a suitable location,
show pictures of an interface structure and have participants conduct an
assessment based on the pictures.
- When the assessment is complete compare ratings.
- Discuss factors that increased the rating, didn’t affect the rating, etc.
- Describe why certain factors affect the rating and others do not (see
booklet)
- Have participants list the ways they can reduce the fire risk rating of
their own property and prepare an action plan that might get them started.
- Discuss home and site evacuation plans.
