Insurance contractor Wildfire Defense Systems expanded into BC and Alberta this year and plans to stay, but local firefighters are apprehensive.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Intact Financial Corporation

American wildfire contractors are well into their first season protecting homes from BC forest fires.

They answer the call when a wildfire is within five kilometres from a home, entering what's likely an evacuation zone, and protecting it from the incoming blaze. But they'll only do it for select properties.

Montana-based company Wildfire Defense Systems was founded more than a decade ago and it works for home insurance companies in 22 states. It expanded north into BC and Alberta this year, signing an agreement with the latter's wildfire service. 

"We spend a lot of time building relationships, a lot of time reaching out," Scott Eskwitt, the company's director of communications and government affairs, said. "Because after all, that's really all we have. It's up to a local authority to determine whether they're going to grant us permission."

The company's been allowed to work in BC fire zones, but it's without any formal agreement and they've been met with some skepticism.

Although there are no formal agreements with BC fire departments so far, he said there are only two such agreements in the 22 states their crews operate in.

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Company representatives met with BC Wildfire Service and local fire departments this spring as they introduced the company and made their BC presence known.

BC Wildfire Service spokesperson Forrest Tower said they've been allowed to work without any interruption from the provincial or local governments, but there is also little collaboration.

"Really what we have told local governments is there is a service that exists, we aren't partnered with them and we don't endorse it," he said.

It's up to the local government to allow the contractors in on a case-by-case basis, but Wildfire Defense crews have been to multiple BC fires so far this year and haven't been denied access. Tower said the crews are treated like a "third-party resource," allowed to work as long as they aren't interfering with firefighters.

"It seems to be going well so far," he said.

The company started out as a government contractor in 2010, but changed its model to work for insurance companies. It touts a record of responding to more than 1,300 wildfires in the US and claims to be the largest private sector wildfire service in North America, according to a May news release. The company works for multiple insurance companies, but Eskwitt wouldn't say just how many homes in BC they are contracted to protect.

"We're not in a position to release those numbers. What I can tell you is that for any wildfire incident in BC and Alberta, we may be in a position to provide loss intervention services for up to 40 per cent of the properties," Eskwitt said.

Their work includes FireSmart tactics like removing potential fuels from around a property, something that homeowners are often encouraged to do themselves. Eskwitt said they go further to seal up a home's vents, windows and doors to prevent embers from getting inside and igniting the property.

Once the fire is passed, they'll return to the zone and inspect properties they've worked on, resetting them back to their former state.

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The company won't suppress the fire itself and crews leave before it's close enough to do so, but the work could also include setting up sprinklers on a home. Both Tower and Kamloops fire chief Ken Uzeloc said their crews will use water as it's prioritized by structure protection fire crews, not Wildfire Defense contractors.

"It's OK to set them up, but I don't want them on unless I determine they need to be because we might need the water elsewhere," Uzeloc said.

Uzeloc is apprehensive of the company's expansion into BC, and he said he's heard similar sentiments from fire chiefs around the province.

"Fire chiefs haven't come to an opinion on how we feel about this approach, and that's why there's no guarantee that if we're in a wildfire situation, these resources would be allowed into our fire area or an evacuated area," he said.

The FireSmart work contractors take on is valuable and more extensive than wildfire or local crews can often do in a fire zone, but Uzeloc said he would prefer most of it be done proactively.

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"I couldn't care less if you want to do all that work ahead of a fire, that's great. But once I have my resources focused on fighting the fire defending what we can, I don't need to have some independent group that now I've got to assign somebody to oversee," Uzeloc said.

The crews may not be "beneficial to the operation," he said. Despite assurances from Wildfire Defense Systems that they'll take care of their own safety once in the fire zone, Uzeloc said he cannot abandon responsibility for anyone inside an area that's under an evacuation order.

"I can tell you that if you're coming into my fire perimeter or an area I've evacuated, absolutely I'm responsible for your safety," he said.

Eskwitt, a former fire chief himself, said he understands the apprehension and Uzeloc's assertion that he's responsible for an evacuation zone.

"I'm an ex-fire chief. I would have the same reaction," he said. "That's where relationship building comes in. We have to establish an understanding that what we're doing is complementary to the service and work public resources provide."

He said the reaction isn't new, but he said the company has routinely proven itself to work alongside local crews without getting in the way.

So far there have been no cases where they've been denied access, and there is no indication demand for their work from insurance companies will slow.

"Wildfire isn't going away. The service we provide is proven, and when it comes to the impact of climate change, we are a major player in adaptability," Eskwitt said. "This is just part of the new reality."

The crews have come north from the US for the 2024 wildfire season as the company makes its first foray into Canada, but Eskwitt said they plan to stay and to have Canadian crews that are trained in BC and Alberta for the 2025 season.

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