Wildfire Community Preparedness Day, scheduled May 2, includes risk reduction project funding

Canada’s first Wildfire Community Preparedness Day is scheduled May 2, and communities “are encouraged to participate in local mitigation projects,” The Co-operators Group Ltd. announced Monday.

FireSmart Canada – administered by Partners in Protection – announced the launch in collaboration with the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR), the National Fire Protection Association and The Co-operators, the Guelph, Ont.-based insurer said in a press release.

“During Wildfire Community Preparedness Day, communities across Canada are encouraged to participate in local mitigation projects to help reduce the risk of wildfire damage to their homes and neighbourhoods,” the Co-operators stated. “Groups and individuals are encouraged to apply for a stipend towards their local event.”

There are up to 20 project funding awards of $500 each, available to implement neighbourhood projects, FireSmart states on its website.

“Potential projects include hosting a chipping day, distributing wildfire safety information to neighbours, organizing brush clean-up and more,” the Co-operators states.

“Proper risk management requires a partnership in which insurance companies, emergency responders, property owners and others each play a crucial role,” The Co-operators president and CEO Kathy Bardswick stated in the release. Through National Wildfire Community Preparedness Day, “a variety of people and organizations will work in communities across the country to reduce their exposure to the devastating effects of wildfires,” she added.

Partners in Protection is a non-profit association whose members include national, provincial and municipal associations as well as government departments responsible for emergency services, forest and parks management.

Researchers are predicting “an alarming increase over the next 20 or 30 years in the risk of property damage in the wildland-urban interface, including risk of homes destroyed by fire,” stated Paul Kovacs (pictured), founder and executive director of ICLR (and president and CEO of Property and Casualty Insurance Compensation Corp.) in a release. “Fortunately, most of these losses are preventable if property owners and communities take the time to prepare.”