Ryan Dugaro has been appointed to the role of FireSmart Coordinator for the District of 100 Mile House.
He will be responsible to develop and deliver a variety of public education initiatives to ensure residents understand the principles of fire mitigation and emergency preparedness.
Dugaro has been a member of 100 Mile Fire Rescue since 2017 and brings a wealth of experience to the position.
“The department has done some FireSmarting of properties especially in 2020 when there were some wildfires around. We did some impromptu FireSmarting while we were doing some evacuations for folks so I have done some of it but there is so much that I’m learning now with this new role. There are a lot of resources out there to continue to learn.”
Dugaro said his goal is to increase public understanding of FireSmart strategies and to encourage residents within the District of 100 Mile House to take action to protect their properties and surroundings.
“There will be meetings for community groups and if anyone has any questions they can reach out to me. This is a new role for the District and myself. I have reached out to a number of other local FireSmart Coordinators like Clinton and the Cariboo Regional District. There seems to be a very strong network of support for myself in this role and it’s a matter of connecting with those folks seeing what they’re doing and what works well.”
Dugaro said he thinks the key education piece of the FireSmart program is that any step that anyone takes towards protecting their home is a positive step.
“FireSmartBC.ca is a really excellent resource for people in the community as there is a lot of information to check out and to learn what they can do.”
FireSmart is an education program that aims to build wildfire resiliency and reduce negative impacts of fire for everyone in the province.
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