Tom McMackin
High Prairie is recertified as a FireWise Community for 2018!
Thank you to all who participated in the open house events and contributed questions, answers and suggestions regarding the ideas behind program and things you were doing to create safer, defensible space for your house and properties. Every project, large or small contributes to your safety and the safety of our community member and first responders when a wildfire emergency happens. Fire in wild areas, rural communities and at the margins of the ‘WUI’—Wildland Urban Interface is a natural process for ecological renewal of our prairies, woodlands and forests. Lightning or a random spark or the natural composting of dead and decomposing materials are the basic ignition sources that start fires. In most cases, the fires were of low intensity and worked to clear underbrush and debris in order to maintain the natural succession of varied flora and fauna species.
In those areas where humans have moved to work, live and play, they’ve brought other elements and activities that generate the potential for fire ignitions. 90% of fires are human sourced. Being proactive and safety conscious would make a tremendous difference in the impact of wildfires in these environments. Other major human factors are the historic wildlands management practices. There are things we can do to mitigate some natural and most human fire factors. We also know there are forces of Nature that are out of our control or mitigation. The rapid, uncontrolled expansion of the Sub-Station Fire east of The Dalles and the tragic Camp Fire that destroyed the town of Paradise, CA were wind driven conflagrations in tinder dry, accumulated fuels. There was little direct action that responders could initiate to quell these firestorms. All actions were defensive re-actions to what the fire was doing within the natural environment and the areas of human interface.
2019 FireWise events will continue being scheduled to provide current information and resources, as well as materials for the “Ready, Set, Go!’ program. Preparation for self-sufficiently in any emergency and evacuation procedures will also be themes for this year presentations. There are High Prairie folks available to consult on FireWise things you can initiate now to prepare for 2019 season.
Contact me if you’d like more information on the ‘Firewise’ and ‘Ready, Set, Go!’ programs, if you have comments or suggestions, or if you would like to be more involved with the High Prairie Firewise effort. I can answer questions and get you connected with the resources we have available as a recognized Firewise Community. Contact me by email at firewise.onhighprairie@gmail.com or by phone message by calling 509-365-2786.
Online resources:
Firewise – http://www.firewise.org or http://www.firewise.org/wildfire-preparedness/be-firewise/home-and-landscape.aspx
Ready, Set, Go! – http://www.wildlandfirersg.org or http://www.wildlandfirersg.org/Resident
This link offers a recipe and one view of listing time and priority tasks for evacuation action. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4EjTfXhwMcwelFqUFUydEQzR3M/view