Thank you for the…

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on proposed improvements to wildland fire approaches in Ontario. As our communities face increased threats I fully support the efforts to more effectively create an all-of-society approach to reducing the risks and impacts related to wildland fire in Ontario.

By way of background: I have a long history of working alongside rural and northern communities in education, outreach and in translating important public policy and landscape level information to communities and landowners alike. During my 20 plus years as executive director and policy lead with the largest rural and northern landowner group in Ontario ( the Federation of Ontario Cottagers’ Associations, or FOCA) I served on MNR’s Southern Region Advisory Committee, the Minister’s Mining Act Advisory Committee, participated in numerous FMZ’s, led the Lake Partner water quality monitoring program, supported broad scale lake monitoring, was a leaders on the Stewardship Network of Ontario, and the Ontario Biodiversity Council, and have had many interactions and involvement with MNR on many fronts for 30+ years. This includes a couple of seasons of initial attack fire fighting in Sioux Lookout. I recently resigned my position at FOCA but I remain a representative on the FireSmart Canada Advisory Committee. It is my commitment to support better engagement and involvement of communities and individuals in all aspects of wildland fire preparedness.

A general comment is that FireSmart Canada has dedicated significant effort to curating the best information for communities and homeowners – let’s put it to use!

I'd like to start by supporting the new vision as proposed in the posting which I think is a positive and comprehensive context for ensuring we take a holistic approach to all aspects of fire, both pre- and during fire events and on an ongoing basis.

I support the establishment of wildland fire advisory committee or committees. I believe it is important to have a regular forum for ongoing dialogue between all stakeholders to foster an increased understanding and a shared responsibility for prevention and mitigation. While our collective interests need to include all of Ontario, action needs to be directed in a locally relevant and timely manner. A regular platform for dialogue and information exchange will support that.

Establishing partnerships - including some financial / administrative support - will enhance the opportunities for communications through the most effective channels, using associations, industry groups and other interests. Among the partners that need to be included. I would suggest that rural and northern municipalities and their related fire departments where appropriate should be in regularized discussions with M&R. Having been part of some FireSmart community efforts between municipal fire departments and MNR in the Bancroft Halliburton area I know this can yield tremendous benefits by supporting the efforts of trained firefighters to look beyond structure fires in those communities where forest risks are a big part of the mix. I would also recommend that forestry and other industrial operators and landowners are regularly engaged throughout the year to ensure their operations, equipment, personnel and otherwise are suitably organized to lessen the risks from starting or being impacted by wildfire. Other interests include landowner groups, the farm community, cottage associations including FOCA, Ontario Woodlot Association, provincial national and private parklands and other conservation land owners including NCC and land trusts. Landscape Ontario also has a window on a large group of service providers who can be useful conduits for providing professional information about vegetation and other lot-level decisions by landowners.

The volunteers /community leaders interested in the realm of improved wildland fire efforts provide great opportunity to leverage specific local, regional or interest specific passions to drive better outcomes. I will say that providing some modest financial support whether that's for communications, regular gatherings (online or in person) or in providing relevant educational or other communications tools could be a positive and cost-effective way to extend the efforts of the Province in their wildland efforts.

From a communications perspective: I would encourage MNR alongside your colleagues at EMO to more fully utilized push notifications that are regional or locally relevant, to send messages on a timely basis (similar to the yellow alerts or Environment Canada extreme weather notifications) to ensure that people most at risk or most likely to be affected by extreme fire conditions or impending threats in their communities to respond. The existing fire maps are great, but a more proactive, modernized approach would be a definite improvement. Understanding that telecom availability is variable in more remote areas, the use of local media, radio or two-way radio needs to be fully deployed in fire communications.

I support the use of AMPs to enforce the importance of compliance with fire restrictions and to appropriately incentivized human behaviours to reduce fire starts. Noncompliance with fire restrictions or recommended campfire or industrial behaviours needs to be delivered using tools that are quick and straightforward.

I look forward to the ongoing improvements to wildland fire approaches in Ontario, and believe you have proposed many positive steps in the recent Review, and ERO posting.
I look forward to staying in touch with MNR and others on this important work, and happy to speak with you anytime if you feel I could be helpful engaging individuals and community groups in northern Ontario in our collective efforts to make our communities safer.

Regards, Terry