Compared with the significant and devastating wildfire season in 2021, with more than 1,600 fires burning nearly 8,700 square kilometres of land, 2022 was a quiter year for wildfires.

On average, according to our partners at BC Wildfire Services, there are 1,403 wildfires per year in BC. That said, the DNVFRS was once again called upon in 2022 to assist with structure defense and structure protection operations across the province.

DNVFRS has long recognized that the District has a significant area where its community meets the forest, which may be especially vulnerable to wildfire damage. Therefore, DNVFRS enhances its wildfire preparedness and readiness capabilities through programs, partnerships, training, and grant and funding opportunities.

Wildfire Deployments and Specialized Training

For various reasons, including climate change, urban encroachment, and increased public use of wildland areas, there are increasing risks to communities with wildland urban interface (WUI).

We continue to see urban interface fires raging across Canada and the United States, often resulting in property loss and significant risk to human life. Consequently, the DNVFRS continues to enhance its capability to respond effectively to wildfire incidents. Our approach has been and continues to be a multi-year effort to ensure our personnel are equipped and trained to safely and effectively respond to the challenges of wildland and urban interface fires.

This also entails creative and innovative initiatives and building close working relationships with key partners. In 2022, the DNVFRS supported the provincial response to the wildfire season by filling 18 positions for BC Wildfire Service throughout the summer.

Our foremost priority is protecting and serving District residents, and our provincial deployments are undertaken when we can ensure appropriate personnel and resources remain response ready for the DNV. Here’s a brief overview of these deployments:

Structure Protection

DNVFRS personnel are trained to provide many specialty disciplines, including our Structure Protection Crews and Structure Protection Units, deployed throughout the province this wildfire season to protect threatened homes and infrastructure.

• Keremeos Creek (Keremeos) – We deployed a five-person Structure Protection Crew for four days to this incident.
• Downton Creek (Lillooet) – We deployed a second five-person Structure Protection Crew to this incident for two days, at which time they were redeployed to the Prince George Fire Centre.
• Bearhole Lake (Hudson Hope) – Our five-person SPC redeployed to support operations for two weeks on this incident and the Battle Mountain Fire, protecting homes and critical infrastructure.

Structure Defense

Cummings Creek (Sparwood) – We deployed one of our Wildland Squads (Type-5 Wildland Engine) to the Town of Sparwood. Working alongside personnel from across the province, our three-person crew undertook structure protection operations. It was also tasked with providing training to personnel as deemed appropriate by the Incident Management Team.

Wildfire FAQs

What is the difference between Structure Defense and Structure Protection?

Structure Defense is wildland firefighting and involves standard wildland strategy and tactics. It also may include removing wildland fuels around structures and using water enhancers and or foam on surrounding vegetation and the structures. Structure Protection strategies and tactics are used when there's a possibility that a wildfire could move into an urban environment. These specialists also use FireSmart principles that can be very useful in helping to protect homes and buildings in a wildfire's path.

What is a Structure Protection Unit, and how many does DNVFRS have?

A Structure Protection Unit (SPU) is a cache of equipment stored in a trailer used by trained specialists to set up sprinklers on and around a structure. SPUs can effectively reduce wildfire threats to some types of buildings, such as houses, cabins, barns or other outbuildings. Each SPU can protect upwards of 35 homes or structures, and the DNVFRS has three of these units that meet and exceed BC Wildfire Services requirements.

What is a Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP)?

A CWPP is a written assessment of identified risks for our community, including homes, infrastructure, and forested areas. A CWPP helps us as a community to document local risks and create an action plan strategically. It will help everyone understand how making improvements to their home and surrounding area can reduce the wildfire risk to property, infrastructure and public safety.

Specialized Wildland Training

DNVFRS firefighters participate in regular annual training to ensure readiness to respond to any wildfire threat quickly. In addition, the DNVFRS seeks out opportunities to innovate, implement best practices in the field, and introduce ground-breaking initiatives. Some highlights from our 2022 training programs and exercises included:

• Interagency Wildfire Exercise – In April 2022, DNVFRS deployed a Type-5 Wildland Engine with three firefighters and two Chief Officers to participate in the Interagency Soames Hill Park Wildland Fire Scenario. This full-day field exercise was hosted by Gibsons & District Volunteer Fire Department, with participation from its fire service partners on the Sunshine Coast. It was a valuable experience to work alongside fire departments from across the region.
• Wildfire Initial Attack Crew (DNV-IAC) – This 25-person special teams program, unique to a BC municipal fire department, has been established to fight wildfires within or adjacent to the wildland areas of the District. These fires may be inaccessible to our fire engines, so personnel have the training to deploy and operate in remote settings for extended periods. The capacity to halt or control a wildfire before it infringes on our urban area is our goal.
• HydroSub-60 – In 2022, we added an innovative approach to accessing and moving large volumes of water for firefighting operations by acquiring two HydroSub-60 units. These highly portable self-contained units are deployed on trailers and can access water sources, freshwater or sea water, in areas normally inaccessible to our fire engines and other apparatus. Developed and utilized throughout the Netherlands, the District is one of only three municipalities in Canada using this technology. While primarily focused on supporting wildfire operations, the HydroSub-60s provide an additional layer of post-disaster resiliency to our firefighting water supply across the District.
• Wildfire Engines – We added three new Wildfire Engines (Type-5) to our fleet as part of our multi-year approach to building internal capacity to fight wildfires. These ‘Squads’ serve a multi-purpose response role for the DNVFRS while also meeting the requirements needed to integrate into the BC Wildfire response system.
• Wildfire Resiliency and Training Summit – Initiated in 2021, and continuing through 2022, the DNVFRS is collaborating with BC Wildfire Services and FireSmartBC to host the inaugural Wildfire Resiliency and Training Summit in 2023. Senior leaders from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) will share operational lessons learned on May 12. Following that, over 300 personnel from across BC will be engaged in hands-on training in the DNV from May 13-14, 2023.

Partnership with Metro Vancouver

DNVFRS continues to work with Metro Vancouver Watershed Protection on a variety of initiatives to enhance our inter-agency relationship and increase interoperability in the event of a wildfire emergency or technical rescue.

We will continue to:

• Work with the Metro Vancouver Watershed Protection team on joint initiatives such as the Wildfire Initial Attack Crew (DNV-IAC) training, dangerous tree assessment, watershed familiarity, helicopter training and overall wildfire protection across the North Shore and in our two watersheds (Capilano and Seymour)
•  Coordinate communications through weekly fire danger rating reports to update our new signage and social media channels throughout the hot and dry season.

In the fall of 2022, we participated in a full-day wildfire tabletop exercise with our partners from Metro Vancouver Watershed Protection, Coquitlam Fire/Rescue, and West Vancouver Fire & Rescue.

This level of interagency collaboration builds resiliency across the region. As one of the three primary fire departments adjacent to the Capilano, Seymour, and Coquitlam watersheds, we have a vested interest in ensuring our approaches and responses at the strategic and tactical levels are aligned and we can support one another through mutual aid.

FireSmart Community Program

Expanding on our FireSmart neighbourhood recognition program, we introduced a new FireSmart Home Partners program in 2022. Ten of our cadre of 25 Local FireSmart Representatives were trained as Wildfire Mitigation Specialists (WMS). They can now assess individual properties and provide suggestions to homeowners to better protect their homes from wildfire. 

From June to December, 30 homes received this assessment and detailed report for their property.  We continue to support the 15 communities through the neighbourhood recognition process through 2022, with two earning FireSmart certifications. 

DNVFRS members, trained as Local Fire Smart Representatives (LFRs), assessed and provided recommendations to reduce risks to property by wildfire and increase the community’s resiliency. As of 2022, 25 members qualified through FireSmart Canada as LFRs.

The Public Education side of the FireSmart program is managed by a dedicated FireSmart coordinator through the hot summer months. In addition, as part of the community program, we attend numerous community events, community AGMs, and host our own information and education sessions to deliver FireSmart information and tips to all residents in North Vancouver while focusing on those living in wildland interface areas. 

We will continue to partner with the community and other agencies on the North Shore to increase FireSmart awareness and community risk reduction by meeting weekly with these partners to discuss information about potential fire dangers and preparedness tactics when the fire danger rating reaches high or extreme.

Community Wildfire Protection Plan

Urban interface fires typically require more personnel and equipment resources than any single department has available, so cooperation and coordination between multiple departments, agencies, and organizations is needed.

The DNV Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP), updated in 2020, helps DNVFRS prepare for, respond to, and recover from wildfires, particularly in areas where its community meets the forest, known as the “wildland urban interface.”

The CWPP contains 52 recommendations for improving DNVFRS emergency response and training, community education, emergency communications, building practices, and more to make the district as fire safe as possible. DNVFRS is moving forward with many of these recommendations.

Learn more about the Community Wildfire Protection Plan

Grant and Funding Opportunities

In 2021, we received $150,000 through the Community Resiliency Investment (CRI) grant from the Union of BC Municipalities and $150,000 from the FireSmart Economic Recovery Fund (FERF) grant.  These grants were extended through 2022 to continue our programs. As well, DNVFRS added an additional $24,000 for a FireSmart coordinator through 2022 from UBCM as part of a total of $150,000 received, with the majority of that going towards forest and fuel mitigation managed by the DNV’s environmental department.

The CRI and FERF grant programs allowed us to move forward with pursuing several recommendations that Mayor and Council adopted as part of the Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP). We were pleased to partner with both the Tsleil-Waututh Nation (TWN) and Squamish Nation to engage the public through the following programs:

• Outdoor Burning Awareness
• Wildfire Community Preparedness Days
• FireSmart Days
• FireSmart Neighbourhood Recognition Projects
• Critical Infrastructure FireSmart Assessments
• Community Emergency Preparedness: Wildfire Focus
• FireSmart Home Partners Program
• LFR & WMS Training