By Don Urquhart, Times Chronicle

The community of Kilpoola saw its first FireSmart day complete with BBQ recently as a committee of eight local residents hopes to raise awareness of the program and get more homeowners involved. 

The FireSmart program, aimed at preparing individual properties and neighbourhoods for wildfire events, is particularly relevant for the Kilpoola community given their lack of fire fighting coverage. 

Located just outside of the Osoyoos Fire Rescue’s coverage area, the Osoyoos firefighters are only activated up in the Kilpoola area off Hwy. 3 when requested by the B.C. Wildfire Service. 

The issue reached a head in January 2021 when a house was destroyed by fire on Old Richter Pass Road. A petition was circulated in a bid to have the Osoyoos Fire Rescue (OFR) cover the area but so far has been unsuccessful. 

Roy Bainbridge, who along with seven other residents put the FireSmart committee together in January this year, said there had been an individual who had been involved in some FireSmart-like initiatives but he had moved on. 

“So I heard about FireSmart in January and looked into it and thought this could get Kilpoola started at least getting involved in some kind of program to make improvements to the area.”

Bainbridge is hopeful that “eventually” they will have more support from OFR. “We understand how it works now and we’re improving some other areas so that if they do come up to assist with a fire they can replenish at the pond because we’ve done some work there too,” he said.

“So really it’s just to get us started on something as a community because I felt it was left alone for a long time and neglected.”

He said the turnout in early May was surprisingly good from a community of 50 households with nearly half turning out.

“We’re just getting started and we’ve done some assessments in the neighbourhood, which is just a general assessment to give an overview of the neighbourhood so that the FireSmart people in Penticton know a little bit more about the community,” Bainbridge said.

And slowly the committee members are getting the word out that more in-depth individual property assessments can be done, and in fact, a few have already been undertaken, he noted. 

“It’s a baby step but we’re starting. I just want the community to get started on some kind of program and this makes good sense to get started on.”