Site Planning

Street numbering is an extremely important issue. Besides being a reference point to all persons using the roadway, they can be critically important to Police, Ambulance and the Fire Department trying to find you in your time of need.

Having your address maintained and visible is the Fire Department’s greatest tool when responding to your home.

• Numbers should be a minimum of 3" high, placed on a contrasting background (i.e. black numbers on a white background or vice versa). Reflective numbers are even better.
• These numbers should be visible from both directions of travel on the road.
• When you share a common driveway, your address should also be posted at the driveway junction, again easily visible.
• Maintain your address numbering by clearing away undergrowth and making sure quality of the numbers is maintained. Renew and or repaint fading numbers when needed.

When planning a new driveway, consider Fire Department access. Although it is possible to fight a fire with all the trucks parked on the road, this blocks traffic and only works for short driveways. A better situation is to have enough space at the house end of the driveway for the fire department vehicles.

If we ever need to fight a fire at your house, we will need enough room for two large trucks to enter your driveway, turn around, and leave again. Having enough driveway and turnaround space means that we can provide a continuous supply of water for firefighting operations. Without enough room in the driveway, we may have to block the road with the trucks and haul hoses the length of your driveway, which would hamper our firefighting ability.

You can help us protect your home by planning your driveway according to the following guidelines:

• Ensure that your address number is clearly visible from the road.
• Ensure that your driveway is wide enough and high enough for large trucks to enter and leave. Our trucks need a minimum of 10 feet (3 metres) of width and 10 feet (3 metres) of height. Prune encroaching and low-hanging branches.
• Ensure that there is sufficient parking space and turnaround room for a tanker truck to enter and leave your driveway while the pumper is parked near your house. This is especially important with a long driveway.
• Don't put the parking space right up against the house. Firefighters and their equipment need to keep a safe distance from a burning building. If your only parking space is right beside the house, we might not be able to use it.

The availability of water is a critical factor in rural firefighting. The more water that is available, the more effectively we can fight a fire. Fighting a structure fire can consume thousands of gallons of water. Domestic water wells do not generally supply enough water for firefighting.

Consider installing a water cistern. This will not only provide a ready supply for firefighting; it will also ensure you have adequate household water during our long dry summers.

If you are planning to install a cistern, consider installing a fire department connector on it. The connector is inexpensive (about $20), and the work to install it will not add significantly to the cost of the entire installation. The benefit is that the Fire Department can connect its water lines to your water source easily and quickly. It you plan to do this, the connector you need is a 3-inch female Cam-Lock fitting, with a male dust cap.

Dugouts and natural ponds are also a good source of firefighting water. A pond is not only scenic; it can also provide irrigation water as well as helping to protect you in the event of fire.

Although the Fire Department is equipped and trained to transport water to a fire scene, having an adequate supply on-site means that more firefighters are available to fight the fire, instead of driving tanker trucks.

Plan and maintain your building site so that brush is cleared away from the buildings. Having a cleared buffer zone around your house allows the Fire Department to protect your house from brush fires and to prevent a structure fire from escaping into the forest.

The B.C. Forestry Department has published a manual to help you plan and maintain your building site for fire protection:

• The Home Owners Fire Smart Manual