Combustible Roof Replacement Incentive Program

The Town of Banff is offering financial incentives to homeowners whose homes have an unrated combustible roof system. To date, 114 property owners have used a rebate to help replace their combustible roofs. There are 211 homes in the community that still have wood shake or shingle roofs.

To Apply for the Program

• Fill out the Combustible Roof Replacement Incentive Application;
• Or pick up an application at the Fire Hall, 201 Beaver Street

To Qualify

To qualify for the Town of Banff’s Combustible Roof Replacement Incentive you will need to complete a free, no obligation FireSmart Assessment from the Fire Department. A trained FireSmart evaluator will visit your home for approximately 30 minutes and provide recommendations on how to better FireSmart your home and property, as well as confirm your existing roof meets the requirements of the program. 

• Request a FireSmart Assessment

Financial Incentive

Successful projects qualify for $1,200 per home. A duplex will be eligible for $1,200 per half duplex. The program has annual capacity limits. If limits are reached, incentive recipients will be compensated in the following year's funding allocation based on submission dates.

Program Participants

Once you are a program participant, you will need to:

• Provide a copy of the roof replacement invoice and proof of payment
• Provide proof new roofing material has a minimum Class B fire resistance rating

Design Guidelines

The Banff Design Guidelines (attached as Schedule 'B' to the Town of Banff Land Use Bylaw (PDF)) strictly prohibit pre-finished metal or standing-seam metal roofing materials, vinyl shingles or other imitation materials (e.g. cultured stone, glue-on-brick, artificial roof tiles) or materials with strong cultural connotations. All materials shall give the appearance of being local in origin and having been handcrafted. In the majority of residential applications a heavy grade, architectural or dimensional asphalt shingle is acceptable as a replacement material. However, in moderate or high wildfire risk zones, metal and other fire retardant roofing materials that provide a shake or shingle-like textured appearance may be permitted. Cedar shakes are permitted in moderate or high wildfire risk zones provided they have a minimum CAN/ULC Rating of Class A or B.

A development permit would not be required to replace a roof, however, the Town of Banff would ask all owners wishing to replace their roof submit a written description of the property (ie. location and current roof material with a photo of the existing roof) and a sample of the proposed roofing material, for written approval prior to installation. Please email Kerry MacInnis for submission of documentation. This is to ensure and confirm that the requirements of the Land Use Bylaw and Banff Design Guidelines are met.

Why FireSmart your Roof?

Lessons learned from the preliminary findings in a report published by the Institute for Catastrophic loss Reduction following the fire in Fort McMurray verify and reinforce the need to FireSmart homes and communities susceptible to heavy ember loading due to a high intensity wildfire. The report clearly demonstrates that homes that adopted FireSmart principals had a significantly higher survival rate compared to homes that did not apply FireSmart principals.

The resources and time required to protect a home with an untreated combustible roof more than doubles. With limited time and resources, these types of structures may be identified as being unable to be protected during a wildfire and abandoned to protect homes with a higher probability of survival.