The Get FireSmart Podcast

This special episode features Deanne Suddaby and Brittany Seibert, both proud recipients of the 2023 Lynn Orstad Award. In our conversation today, we speak with Deanne and Brittany about their professional background, their personal passion for wildfire, and their experience building their careers focused on wildfire resiliency.

Brittany Seibert is currently the Emergency Program Coordinator for the City of Penticton as well as working with the BC Wildfire Service as a Structure Protection Specialist. Brittany was grateful to be recognized for her impactful work through the Lynn Orstad Award. She is also deeply honoured to be recognized in memory of someone who was such a positive influence on everyone who worked with her.

Deanne Suddaby is currently the FireSmart Program Advisor for FireSmart BC and FireSmart Alberta. She had the opportunity to work directly with Lynn Orstad in the past and is humbled to have been nominated and chosen for the award. Deanne is thankful that Lynn’s incredible legacy lives on through this award.

Links:

Learn more about the Lynn Orstad Award: https://firesmartbc.ca/lynnorstadaward/

To learn more about the FireSmart BC program visit firesmartbc.ca

To learn more about FireSmart Canada visit: https://firesmartcanada.ca/

Watch FireSmart BC Videos: https://vimeo.com/firesmartbc

Keep your eye out in Winter of 2023 for the 2024 Lynn Orstad Nominations to open!

As an entrepreneur and former firefighter, Robert has spent his career building tools and solutions to increase access to information by firefighters, fire managers and decision-makers. He is passionate about the way new technologies can better inform decision-making, safety and public expenditure. Also, fire. He loves fire.

In this episode, Robert discusses the impact that technology can have on fire and how it can assist in fighting wildfire including remotely piloted aircraft systems and wildfire intelligence fire drone mapping. He also shares stories from his background in firefighting and how it led him to kickstart his own company. This is a great episode for anyone interested in the intersection of wildfire and technology and the future of fire.

Links:

For more information about Hummingbird Drones, visit https://www.hummingbirddrones.ca/:

For more information about Fire AI, visit https://www.fireai.io/:

To learn more about the FireSmart BC program and other partnerships across the province, visit firesmartbc.ca

In this episode, we interview two guests; Peter Holub, Wildfire Prevention Officer with BC Wildfire Service, and Sarah Sigurdson, co-owner of Cariboo Art Beat, a Williams Lake art collective and studio.

This discussion highlights how BC’s history of fire suppression has led to a loss of Indigenous culture and an increased risk of wildfires. Because of this, younger Indigenous generations did not grow up with fire and were disconnected from this generational practice, relying on elders to learn about good fire and its ability to clean and manage the land.

Peter and Sarah discuss how they developed art-based workshops in the Cariboo focused on cultural burning to support Indigenous fire stewardship and reinvigorate the teaching of fire knowledge, beliefs, and values.

They share about the two First Nation communities who participated in the workshops (Williams Lake First Nation and the Yunesit’in First Nation), including what the feedback was from participants, and if they plan to facilitate more workshops in the future.

This is a great episode to learn more about cultural burning, Indigenous fire stewardship and traditional knowledge, and the importance of recognizing the history of Indigenous peoples.

Links:

Learn more about their initiative: https://prescribedfire.ca/reigniting-cultural-burning-through-painting/

Cariboo Art Beat: https://caribooartbeat.square.site/

Related Article: https://www.hopestandard.com/community/cariboo-art-beat-workshops-combine-fire-and-art/
For more information about Prescribed Fire and Cultural Burning visit https://prescribedfire.ca/
Visit https://firesmartbc.ca/ to learn more about the program and other partnerships across the province

Today on the show we speak with Dr. Jack Cohen, a Research Physical Scientist and one of the most renowned and experienced voices on the FireSmart program. We chat with Jack regarding his experience with fire, what he’s learned, and what we can learn by looking at past fires. This episode also covers how homeowners can be prepared, and the importance of FireSmart education and engagement.

Dr. Jack Cohen has been involved in wildland fire research since 1972 and was a research scientist at US Forest Service fire laboratories in Missoula, MT, Riverside, CA and Macon, GA. Dr. Cohen has been interested in understanding the wildland-urban (WU) fire problem since the 1970s, but he formally started his research on how structures ignite during wildfires in 1989. Using computational modelling, laboratory and field experiments, and WU fire disaster investigations, he found that a home and its immediate surroundings within 100 feet, called the home ignition zone (HIZ), principally determine home ignitions during extreme wildfires.

Dr. Cohen retired from the US Forest Service in 2016 but continues his involvement in developing effective methods for preventing WU fire disasters, including research on the recent Lytton events.

Links:

Homeowners Manual: https://homeowners-manual.firesmartbc.ca/

Learn more about the Home Ignition Zone by watching this video: https://firesmartbc.ca/resource/firesmart-home-ignition-zone-assessment/

Explore the report and other resources on Lytton: https://firesmartbc.ca/lytton

Thank you to the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction for sponsoring this recent research on WU Fires. Please see their website at https://www.iclr.org/ for recent reports including Lytton.

Learn more about FireSmart BC: https://firesmartbc.ca/

On this episode, we speak with Kelly Johnston from FireSmart Canada to learn what FireSmart really is. Kelly helps us unpack the terminology, process, and science behind FireSmart. We discuss the importance of FireSmart and some of the things that all homeowners should consider when evaluating their property for the risk of wildfire. We dig into the science and history of fire and learn about Kelly’s unique career. This is a great episode to learn the details behind the FireSmart Program for anyone looking to take action. Dig in and learn from an expert on FireSmart.