Hi Strata neighbours –
I would like to open by thanking everyone who helped with our fall irrigation system blow-out yesterday. Lots of people came out to help, and now the irrigation lines are cleared out of water and ready for winter. Very much appreciated!
Now – on to the next work party 🙂 On Tuesday (October 14) is the strata FireSmart work party, to help reduce the fire hazards right around our units. We will meet at the lower pond at 9:00 a.m. and I anticipate we will be done around noon. If you can help for just part of that time, that’s great – we happily welcome whoever can help, for however long you can help for 🙂 For those coming to help, please bring any of the following if you have them:
- work gloves for you
- loppers, to cut branches and roots
- a BIG pry bar, to help pry the shrubs loose
- a saw, to cut back bigger branches (and if you have a chain saw, that would be super!)
- strong towing cable/rope (two people have offered to bring their vehicle to help pull out shrubs, and we may need long or linked-together towing ropes to reach the shrubs)
Following the advice of the FireSmart people who came to take a look at our strata, strata council is encouraging people to remove the highest priority fire hazard shrubs that are within 5 feet of our units.
The biggest (and thus, priority-to-remove) fire hazards are the cedar, juniper and cypress shrubs that are planted in the borders along our houses. These shrubs in particular can torch up very quickly with the flames reaching up really high – taking the flames up under the eaves and into the attic/roof.
The work party on Tuesday is to help you, if you would like help to remove such shrubs from the borders around your unit. If you have not yet contacted me and you have some of these shrubs that you would like help with, please contact me (Violet) at violet@violetvanhees.com (and also let me know how many shrubs). Thanks!
Some people have asked about filling in the gaps created by removing these shrubs. Our strata is different from most other stratas in that the borders alongside our units are for the owner of each unit to take care of – so, you could create a new look for your place by planting different plants that are more fire resistant. To find out what shrubs and plants are suggested by FireSmartBC as more fire-resistant alternatives, if you type “FireSmartBC fire resistant plants” into your search engine you will find a link.
If we have enough people for the work party, we will also be able to cut some branches from trees along the ditch that runs from the shed along the driveway to the T-intersection. We may also be able to cut back branches from the inside of the hedge around the septic generator and pumps across from #3 and #4. And there might be a few other spots where we can cut branches back from being too close to our homes.
The BowHorn Fire Department is kindly helping us out by providing a bin for the shrubs and branches we remove. The bin will be brought here on Tuesday (and parked in the parking spots by the lower pond), and it will be taken away on Wednesday. If you have already taken shrubs out or cut branches down yourself, you can add those to the bin if you like.
Thanks!
Violet (LLE Council, Landscaping)