Logan Lake is hoping the rest of B.C. will catch on to a fire protection system it’s been using for years.

Fire chief Doug Wilson said the District has had a rooftop sprinkler program since 2013. He says residents pay $45 dollars to have them installed, which covers the cost of materials, and the volunteer fire department has been putting them in.

“They’re a heavy duty, irrigation sprinkler, that you would find in your orchards. That farmers would use, stuff of that nature. They’re a brass head with galvanized risers, so they won’t rust. They’ll deal with the heat, they’ll deal with the freeze. We mount these on the top of people’s homes, usually on their vent stacks, with a couple of worm clamps,” Wilson said.

“If we go to an alert, at that time, we will install a hose to it. And in the event they’ll actually have to evacuate, we’ll just walk around turning their spigots on, and it’ll activate the hoses. We’ve got to cover the vent pipes so we don’t allow any water down. We don’t want water damage after the fact. I’ve got a list right now of at least 120 homes looking to do this.”

He said by the end of this year, 50 per cent of residents in Logan Lake will have their homes equipped with those sprinklers.

Wilson says the District had a small wildfire on July 2, near Chartrand Creek, and the BC Wildfire Service had a structural protection engineer go in who had never even seen the program. He says those sprinklers weren’t needed that day, but says they would free up a great amount of resources during a wildfire.

“It’s a small amount to pay for a great piece of mind,” he said.

“Unfortunately the insurance companies don’t see it our way quite yet. We’re still working on that with FireSmartBC and FireSmart Canada, so they’re trying to work with the underwriters to see if we can try and get a deduction for the homeowners that have gone with this program.”

Last week, the BC Wildfire Service said it was tapped out on resources and was not able to respond to every new fire start, and said it was prioritizing protection of life and structures.

(Photo: Doug Wilson)