Tom McMackin
COVID-19… one of Nature’s realities in our lives has come home to roost! Current events on the World’s stage illustrate the importance of considering potential risks and preparing for those risks with pre-planning, preparation and commitment to act in the face of Nature’s arrival in our lives and on our doorsteps. After all – it isn’t a matter of ‘IF’…!
Given the chance to be around home now, with our busy ‘other’ agendas being trimmed, we have an opportunity to consider Nature’s challenges here at home. Wildfire is always on our minds here on High Prairie. We were fortunate last fire season, with few major incidents at home or in Washington and Oregon. (California was not so lucky.) This year’s early Spring has fostered potential for fast growing fine fuels (grasses and ‘twiggy’ plants), which in this Summer’s heat will be just what fire and wind need to catastrophically impact our lives here.
Consider also… COVID-19 could possibly still be affecting our communities and, in those same moments, the availabilities of firefighters and first responders to come to our aid!
There are many things we can do in advance to prepare for these events and to keep ourselves and those we care about safe in times of emergency! For information on preparing your home and property for wildfire, the FireWise and Ready, Set, Go! programs have easily accessible information on their webpages. Below are some other resources for your consideration – they are similar, the first two have good basic outlines of a timeline-based evacuation action plan.
https://www.mynevadacounty.com/DocumentCenter/View/15855/Nevada-Couny-Evacuation-Guide—2015-PDF
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4EjTfXhwMcwelFqUFUydEQzR3M/view
Here’s a short checklist of FireWise things to do for this Spring and early Summer to prepare:
1st: [0 – 5’] Inspect your home and other structures from the top down / from foundation out 5 feet…
Clean up and clear these zones ( Now ! )
Observe where things like leaves, small twigs, pine needles & cones, etc. accumulated for removal now
Is there anything combustible on or nearby that might hold an ember or lead fire to your house ?
2nd: [5’ – 30’] From your buildings’ foundations out into your surrounding spaces…
Create and execute a plan for the work to be done… (before High Prairie’s burn ban goes into effect!)
[30’ is a minimum buffer area between structures or other fuel sources for defensive firefighting & protection]
Create a plan for making this zone ‘protective’ for your property and a working zone for any firefighters who are assigned to protect your home and other homes near your property.
Is there an accessible ‘fire lane’ around your structures for them to work ?
3rd: [30’ – 100’] From the close-in FireWise buffers above – plan for work in your wild rural environments…
Clean up and clear these zones ( Now ! )
Observe where things like leaves, small twigs or branches and pine needles & cones, etc., collect.
Is there anything combustible that might hold an ember or lead fire to your house ?
Resources:
Contact Tom McMackin for more information on the ‘FireWise’ and ‘Ready, Set, Go!’ programs; if you gave comments, questions, or suggestions; to get more involved with the High Prairie FireWise effort; or to get connected with resources available to us as a recognized FireWise Community. Contact Tom by email at firewise.onhighprairie@gmail.com or by phone message at 509-365-2786.
Online resources:
Fire Wise – http://www.firewise.org
or http://www.firewise.org/wildfire-preparedness/be-firewise/home-and-landscape.aspx
Ready, Set, Go! – http://www.wildlandfirersg.org