In what's being called a public safety move, city council is set to make cutting and thinning out trees around new country residential homes mandatory.

At a noon meeting with senior managers last Friday, members of council endorsed an idea to change the city's building and plumbing bylaw.

The change would require all new country residential homes built within city limits to be FireSmarted.

Discussions about making all existing property owners FireSmart their properties under a maintenance bylaw amendment were dropped in favour of encouraging people to do it through an education campaign.

Clive Sparks, the city's fire chief, said he favours the idea of FireSmarting. It involves clearing a 10-metre circle around a home of flammable trees and material, then thinning out a further 20 metres, because it could mean saving lives and property.

Sparks said he feels a house that has been protected against fire should be worth more than one that hasn't, and that fire insurance rates should be adjusted to reflect the safety measure.

'It (currently) doesn't impact insurance,' Sparks noted of the current situation.

Sparks said if the new bylaw is adopted, he'd recommend that people getting their property FireSmarted find a contractor with experience and who carries liability insurance.

Coniferous trees such as black spruce, he said, are the main worry as opposed to deciduous trees, such as birch.

Sparks said the program would likely cost $5,000 a hectare.

FireSmarting, according to the Yukon government's FireSmart Manual, is a program designed to protect homes against wildfires.

'In 2004 alone, more than 280 forest fires consumed more than 1.8 million hectares, which represents just over six per cent of the vegetated area of the Yukon.

'Although wildfires are very beneficial for the renewal of Yukon's boreal forest, wildfires can also damage homes and cabins, affect communities, and disrupt economic development and tourism,' the manual states.

'If you live in or near a forested area of the Yukon, it is important to reduce the risk posed by wildfires to your home, property, and community.'

Mayor Bev Buckway said while some people won't like the requirements being considered by council, there would be an opportunity for the public to comment if and when the bylaw is passed.

'The downside would be cost and people who wanted to have their house surrounded by trees,' she said.

'If we do put this into the bylaw, we have ample opportunity for people to come forward.' .

Coun. Dave Austin said he believes it's important to inform the public about why council is considering such a move.

'I think the answer is education, education, education.'

Coun. Florence Roberts said she feels the benefits of reducing the risk of fire on your property should be obvious.

'I think people would be stupid, absolutely stupid, if they don't try to protect themselves.'

Planning manager Mike Gau said initiatives similar to FireSmarting were done on the Takhini Hot Springs Road country residential subdivision and that forest fuel management will be part of the new Whitehorse Copper subdivision.

'YTG is pushing for the city to be more active in it, to get involved. They said they'll make it part of the Whitehorse Copper sale if we ask nicely,' Gau said.

'We have the jurisdiction to do this.'

Marc Perreault is the assistant director for program delivery for the Yukon Housing Corp. He said this week that 'fuel management prescriptions' will be included as a condition of sale in Whitehorse Copper.

'We hired a consultant to do fuel management prescriptions (requirements) for the Hot Springs Road development. Prescriptions were set for each of the lots,' Perreault said.

'The major requirement is to pick up deadfall and manage the undergrowth.'

A consultant has also been hired to do individual lot assessments for the 103 Whitehorse Copper lots expected to be released this year, he said.

Fuel management was a component of FireSmarting, he said, but not the the same thing.

Perreault said FireSmarting had many more requirements, including ensuring that a driveway could accommodate a fire truck.

Mike Racz, the president of the Yukon Real Estate Association, said FireSmarting a property wouldn't likely make it worth more.

'What they're doing is cutting out the underbrush and cutting out the trees so anybody who wants privacy is affected,' he said.

'If you have two lots and one's FireSmarted and one's not, it's what kind of trees you have and where the lots is situated that's going to affect the sale price,' he said.

The most recent major fire threat to Whitehorse was in June 1991, when a raging blaze blackened Haeckel Hill.

A full-scale evacuation plan was prepared for the city, but a combination of firefighters' efforts and co-operation from the wind saved the day before the plan was activated.