The FireHard system — including the WER rating, technical documents, and design guides — is a voluntary framework based on current best practices from wildfire research in Canada, the United States, and Australia. It is not a building code, regulation, or mandatory standard.
Built in British Columbia's wildland-urban interface. Designed to grow nationally.
Canadian homes are burning. $8.5 billion in insured losses in 2024. Jasper. Lytton. Kelowna. The wildfire science is clear — NIST, IBHS, Australian Standard AS 3959 — but the gap between what researchers know and what a Canadian homeowner can do has been too wide.
FireHard Canada was built to close that gap. Free guides. Open specifications. Binary criteria anyone can verify.
FireHard was built to be handed off. Our goal is not to own Canada's wildfire construction standard permanently — it's to build a specification-grade framework good enough that the appropriate national standards body can adopt, refine, and maintain it. Whether that's CSA, NRC, ULC, a provincial building authority, or a new national program, the WER system and all associated documents are designed for institutional stewardship.
We're a small team in Smithers, BC. We built this because nobody else had, and homes were burning. But a national standard should be maintained by institutions with the resources, mandate, and authority to keep it current as building science evolves and climate conditions change.
Until formal adoption occurs, we are building a FireHard Canada non-profit organization to provide governance, peer review, and stakeholder engagement. We are actively seeking engineers, architects, building scientists, insurers, building officials, researchers, and community advocates to help pressure-test and refine this framework so it's ready when institutional adoption happens.
Wildernest Systems Inc. initiated and developed the WER system, publishes all technical content, and manages the current framework. Based in Smithers, BC — in the Bulkley Valley, surrounded by the wildfire-prone forests this system is designed to address.
Bulkley Valley Engineering Services Ltd. (EGBC Permit No. 1001683) provided the professional engineering expertise underpinning the FireHard specifications and construction detail guides. Based in Smithers, BC.
Lazzarin Svisdahl Landscape Architects (BCSLA) provides landscape architecture expertise for site-level wildfire design, vegetation management planning, and FireSmart integration. Based in Smithers, BC.
The FireHard framework synthesizes current international wildfire construction standards and research — including Australian Standard AS 3959, NIST post-fire investigations, IBHS research, California Building Code Chapter 7A, and Canadian CAN/ULC and ASTM standards — into practical Canadian-accessible guidance. It is not a stamped engineering deliverable. WER-1 and WER-2 are designed for homeowner and contractor implementation using the design guides. WER-3 benefits from experienced trades and designer involvement. WER-4 requires site-specific assessment by a qualified professional engineer.
Every person involved in developing FireHard Canada has volunteered their professional time and expertise. No one on the team has been paid. The engineering, the research, the technical writing, the design guides, the construction details, and this website were all produced on evenings and weekends by professionals who believe this gap in Canadian wildfire planning needed to be filled — and who were tired of waiting for someone else to fill it.
A system that costs money to access is a system only some people use. Wildfire doesn't stop at property lines — community-level hardening is exponentially more effective than individual measures. The guides have to be free for the system to work.
FireHard Canada has no government funding, no grants, and no corporate sponsors. The entire system has been built on volunteer professional time. We intend to keep every guide and tool free, permanently. But sustaining and expanding this work takes resources.
Donations help us: maintain specifications as building science and standards evolve, expand provincial coverage beyond BC, develop the Component & Assembly Reference database, fund the establishment of the FireHard Canada non-profit, and keep this website running.
We are also actively pursuing government grants, institutional partnerships, and program funding to ensure this work is sustainable beyond volunteer capacity. If your organization provides funding for wildfire resilience, community safety, or building science initiatives, we would welcome a conversation.
If you find value in this work and want to help it continue, email info@firehard.ca for information on how to support FireHard Canada.
FireHard Canada is not yet a registered non-profit. We cannot issue tax receipts at this time. We are working toward non-profit registration, at which point we will apply for charitable status. We appreciate your support and your patience as we build the organizational structure to match the technical work.
Download the FireHard Media Package (PDF) for a complete summary of the project, its development, the risks it addresses, plans for engagement, and key facts for reporting.
General enquiries: info@firehard.ca
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We're building FireHard Canada as a non-profit for stakeholder engagement, peer review, and ongoing system refinement. The FireHard framework needs to be governed by a broad coalition of experts — not a single company.
FireHard was created in Smithers, a town of 5,400 in northwest BC's Bulkley Valley. We live and work in wildfire country. The mountain pine beetle epidemic left vast stands of dead timber surrounding our community. Our neighbours evacuate. Our friends lose homes. The WER system was built in an office — but that office is surrounded by the fuel loads these specifications are meant to address.
No building is fireproof. Hardening reduces probability — it doesn't eliminate risk. We will never tell you your home is "safe." We will tell you it's safer, and by how much, and what to do next.
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