The City of Vernon, in cooperation with BC Wild Fire and BX Swan Lake Fire Rescue has been planning a prescribed burn for 10 acres of City owned lands in the Foothills. In preparation, our team has delivered information door to door, held a public information session and conducted site prep. The site prep has included garbage removal, cutting in fire guard, removal of low hanging tree branches and thinning of brush.
The burn had been planned for April 2019, however, with the recent rain, plants have greened up too quickly and a burn in these conditions would not achieve the desired effect. Also the site would benefit, in some areas, from additional mechanical thinning. This thinning will reduce under growth and help trees and brush better resist fire. Additional site prep will continue and a burn will take place in the fall or next spring, as conditions permit.
“Prescribed burning is an important tool in managing fuel loads in the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI). In the absence of fire, wildlands become over grown and unhealthy. Fires that do occur in untreated lands during extreme hazard conditions can result in fast moving and hot fires which damage the ecosystem and present serious risks to our community,” said Chief Lind.