Cindy White
It was a terrifying sight, especially for those living in the neighborhood.
A cedar hedge caught fire within minutes at the corner of Highway 33 and Molnar Highway on Monday.
You can see similar sound barriers and fences all over town, but they just aren’t a good fit for the hot, dry climate of the Central Okanagan.
“They contain a lot of volatile oils, so they burn very hot,” said urban forester Tara Bergeson.
“Especially cedar and juniper, they collect a lot of dead material inside. So this can essentially act like a match, where you have the oils on the outside for the boot and then they burn very easily.”
She says it’s a good example of why you should proactively remove plants whenever possible to FireSmart your property.
Earlier this year, the City of Kelowna got proactive on its own land, removing cedars, junipers and other shrubs and plants that pose a fire hazard. It also offered a free FireSmart community chip pilot program to all property owners in areas where crews were working that wanted to remove the soot.
“In the approximately two and a half months that we ran the program, we collected just under 100 metric tons of hazardous material from homes,” Bergeson said.
Bergeson adds that a fire-resistant privacy fence is the best option, but if you want to replace cedars or junipers with other shrubs, consider something native to this part of North America.
“You can look at things like a native plant called Oregon grape. It can grow pretty tall and get pretty dense. Barberry is another option, boxwood and California lilac are options that can work within what we call our area of plant rusticity. So with our climate, with our weather”, he explains.
Bergeson hopes to offer the community chip program again next year and expand it to even more communities in Kelowna.
Program details and other FireSmart tips can be found here.