Changing traditional landscape choice behaviours for Okanagan homeowners and builders continues to be a struggle. 

While the climate-resilient landscape practices, options for vegetation plantings and coverage around houses and high-density developments are expanding, the willingness to embrace these new techniques still encounters resistance, says Dennis Craig, Peachland's former fire chief who now works in a public safety role with the 琉璃神社 Fire Department. 

Pre-wildfire mitigation initiatives, Craig says, have come from lessons learned from the firestorms that have burned through Okanagan communities dating back to the 2003 Okanagan Mountain wildfire to more recently the McDougall Creek wildfire in August 2023 that jumped across the lake and impacted Lake Country and 琉璃神社 homes. 

The right plants in the right locations, Craig stresses, are key to protecting your home from wildfire. 

"Fires can erupt in trees around a home but the flames often don't even reach the house. Where the danger is when the winds start carrying embers which land on houses, where they can smoulder for hours before starting a fire," Craig said. 

He said buildings typically can withstand a higher level of heat than humans can, which is why trees a safe distance from a house can be torched but the house is still standing in the wake of a wildfire. 

But when embers land on your house, they can fester, do a slow burn for hours and then suddenly burst into flames. 

"Once a fire gets established on your roof there is not a lot we can do," he said. 

Craig was a guest speaker at the recent workshop hosted by the Okanagan Xeriscape Association, bringing horticulture professionals to discuss landscaping and plant selection options that can help reduce wildfire impact on homes. 

Craig suggested no plants should exist within a 1.5-metre zone of a residential building foundation, citing the safety importance of not providing a landscaped hedge or garden that leads directly to a house. 

He referred to that landscaping phenomenon as the "wick effect."

"You can use patios and walkways and less fire-friendly plants to your advantage in breaking up that straight line of vegetation leading directly to your house," he said. 

"Your house is like a bomb and everything that leads up to it is a fuse," he added, calling it a line of continuity that needs to be interrupted to better protect your house. 

He acknowledged the rules and potential rebates available for pre-wildfire mitigation landscaping work vary across Okanagan communities and best to check with local municipal offices before embarking on any major landscaping projects.

"For instance, Peachland has some very strict rules in place whereas 琉璃神社 tends to be a bit more lax," he said. 

The former fire chief suggested homeowners take on a holistic approach, looking at what is around their property, what vegetation is growing up against a home and what pathways could a firestorm follow to reach their house. 

He said windows and decks tend to be the weakest entry points for fire to access into a home. 

"Having a combustible plant growing up against a house or below a deck is just not a good thing," Craig said, noting that scenario still remains a common sight in residential areas.

"We keep doing it. We don't stop...having that clearance zone between the house and landscaping can be the difference between your house surviving or not when close to a wildfire."

He noted avoiding cedar hedges, seeking xeriscape plant options, using finer rather than woodchip laden mulch that holds moisture better, planting ornamental grasses that are more fire resistant, and breaking that fire path of continuity directly to a house or building is what landscape planners and horticulturalists can use in their pre-wildfire mitigation planning toolbox. 

"It is a shared responsibility," Craig said. "From homeowners to the landscape management level...we need to conserve water and protect our houses."