Fire-Resilient Homes Fire-resilient construction helps prevent damage to your home and belongings, and buys valuable time for evacuation in the event of a fire. Fire-resilient homes include use of: • Non-combustible materials such as metal or asphalt roofing and cement siding • Design features such as enclosed gutters or eaves
Net Zero Homes Net Zero homes produce as much clean energy as they consume and rely on renewable energy systems such as solar panels and energy-efficient components including triple-glazed windows. Net Zero Ready homes are built to the same standards … but without a renewable energy system installed. Benefits include greater comfort and reduced costs: • Tightly built and well insulated, which quiets noise and reduces drafts • Provides power during outages • Filters air to reduce allergens such as dust, pollen and outdoor pollution • Reduces energy consumption • Lowers utility bills and protects homeowners from energy price increases • More durable due to high performance and better insulation • Improves resilience to climate events such as heat waves
SOURCE: PACIFIC ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CANADA
that a volunteer team would not meet the program’s requirements. But they set out to build the house as fire resilient as possible anyway. The homeowners purchased building materials based on Gessey’s research and the advice of architect Jesse Reimer, who designed an energy efficient house plan. Key materials included metal roofing and flashings, cement siding, semi- rigid mineral wool batt insulation, a heat pump, electric hot water on demand, and triple glazed windows. The house was finished by the first week of July 2024, a deadline driven by Lytton’s formidable summer heat. After construction wrapped up, the project’s energy advisor attended the home to conduct a final test. The advisor’s follow-up report indicated that the house met PacifiCan’s net zero ready standards. Rempel was “pleasantly surprised” by the news. The report and subsequent meetings with government officials were “very affirming” of the volunteers’ work. The homeowners shared Rempel’s surprise. Collings reflected on training volunteers needed to undergo to install new, fire-resilient materials. “MDS was amazingly
SOURCE: PACIFIC ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CANADA
Homeowners Owen Collings and Patsy Gessey, bottom left, with MDS volunteers who helped build their fire-resilient, net zero house.
Building back better “We didn’t think we were going to be eligible.” That’s what Owen Collings said of federal government grants for wildfire survivors in his village—people who had lost their homes to the Lytton Creek Fire in 2021. MDS volunteers rebuilt a house for Collings and his wife Patsy Gessey in Lytton, British Columbia, last year. It was unlike any house MDS volunteers had built in Canada before. Volunteers worked with a customized house plan and upgraded building materials to meet a new local building code and to construct the home in a “spirit of fire resiliency,” a commitment made by the couple and MDS Response Coordinators. Collings and Gessey wanted to apply for government grants through the Lytton Homeowner Resilient Rebuild Program. The couple covered building material costs for their new home. They hoped government grants would offset some of those expenses and enable them to purchase solar panels. Gessey carefully researched the grant program’s standards for fire resiliency and net zero emissions. Mark Rempel and Gerald Dyck, Lytton MDS Response Coordinators, attended online information sessions related to the grant program. After information gathering, the homeowners and Response Coordinators determined
Coletta hopes Collings and Gessey’s house will serve as an inspiration for “the highest level of wildfire resilient housing that can be constructed in the Jasper rebuild”— referring to the Alberta town’s recovery from last July’s wildfire, the largest to hit Jasper National Park in a century. Collings and Gessey received their first grant payment, approximately CAN $66,000, in mid-January. A week later, they signed a contract for solar panels to be installed in March. “It all happened so fast,” said Gessey. “Thank you, MDS … we’re really happy in our house.” “We’re a bunch of volunteers, but we actually got some really key people involved,” reflected Rempel. “[Collings and Gessey] did a lot of research… we benefitted from that, and we continue to benefit from that.” In fact, Rempel is drawing on the team’s acquired knowledge and experience for the next MDS house build in Lytton. The Coghlans, a homeowner family of four, will be encouraged to apply for the same grants. And Collings is already passing on what he and Gessey learned to their neighbors, just across the alley.
adaptable considering. And they really caught a hold of it,” he said. Because of the energy advisor’s findings, the couple applied for the Lytton Homeowner Resilient Rebuild Program after the build was complete. Government officials conducted a home visit last
“ MDS was amazingly adaptable considering. And they really caught a hold of it.” OWEN COLLINGS WILDFIRE SURVIVOR LYTTON, BRITISH COLUMBIA
Volunteer-built home is a model of new fire-resilient standard in Canada
October and confirmed that the house met both fire- resilient and net zero ready standards. Lucas Coletta, a project leader with Natural Resources Canada, highlighted that the house will be “one of the first fire-resilient, net zero new homes in Canada.”
STORY: NIKKI HAMM GWALA PHOTOS: MDS VOLUNTEERS
NOTE: Funding towards rebuilding a fire-resilient and Net Zero home was provided by the Lytton Homeowner Resilient Rebuild Program
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behind the hammer
behind the hammer
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