Although the wildfire season in southern BC has been fairly mild so far this summer, recent fires in Squamish, on Vancouver Island and in qathet Regional District have put people on edge.
Currently, Savary Islanders are exploring the idea of adopting an early fire detection technology.
"Fire is the biggest concern of the community, second only to water," said Liz Webster, executive director of Savary Island Land Trust (SILT). "This early detection technology, it's really quite extraordinarily cool; we did present the idea to the Association of the Savary Island Community (ASIC) at their last AGM."
Savary Island has three fire halls and a volunteer fire department due to the fact that Savary is so dry in the summer. One spark could easily spread across the island, causing a lot of damage to property and surrounding forested environment.
Webster and Peter Armstrong, who is chair of the volunteer board of directors for the Nature Trust of British Columbia and a SILT member, presented a motion to do research and put a committee together to find out if they can bring the technology, called SenseNet, to the island.
Webster said Cortes Island is in the process of adopting the technology and the community of Vernon, BC, already uses early fire detection.
"This could be quite extraordinary; we're just learning about it right now," said Webster. "We're working with the fire department on this."
At the ASIC annual general meeting on July 5, the motion by Webster and Armstrong passed: 90 in support and seven opposed.
In a community message, SILT stated the following about the motion:
"We all enjoy the natural beauty of the island, but we know that those trees and homes could be the source and fuel if a fire got away from our amazing Savary Island Volunteer Fire Department (SIVFD). Images of Fort McMurray, Lytton and Jasper are definitely in our minds, which causes us to worry.
“SILT believes we need to be open to new technology to identify fires before they get too large. Providing a tool that can alert our SIVFD team sooner could increase our protection significantly. "
Information about SenseNet’s technology that provides early fire detection can be read in this document. SenseNet has issued a proposal specifically for Savary Island.
Join the Peak’s email list for the top headlines right in your inbox Monday to Friday.
