Tom McMackin
High Prairie had a very fire-quiet 2024! The fire seasons for some communities near and far were, and continue to be, catastrophic. News and social media sources have daily stories of wildfires and evacuation orders. California and the US East Coast are the first impacted areas that come to mind, but Europe and other areas of Planet Earth are now part of the wildfire impacts discussion. Our environment – weather, climate, human development, population growth, etc., are but a few of the dynamic factors in all wildfire, and in fact all emergency incidents, natural or man-made. Within the given challenges or potential for tragedy posed in these events, however, are stories of life and property survival for individuals and communities that were prepared for any advent of sudden, potentially disastrous calamity and possible immediate or longer term impacts.
The FireWise & Ready, Set, Go! programs are excellent resource foundations for your ‘Be Prepared!‘ efforts. I will continue to be the contact person for the FireWise program effort for all residents on High Prairie and KCFPD 14 as well as any other interested communities or individuals. I’ll keep my contact information as item #1 in the resource listing at the end of these High Prairian articles. I will also continue to provide links to information and other sources related to living safely and actively in the beautiful wildland urban interface environment (WUI, aka Woo EE!!!) we call home.
If you would like to participate, present information or assist in planning, participating in or becoming more involved in the FireWise effort on High Prairie… please contact me !
FireWise Activities – Urgent!
Get these done now or by December 25!
All pruning, complete removal, or FireWise fire ladder fuel trimming (8-10’ up from the ground, not more than 1/3 of the tree’s height), particularly pine trees close to all homes and structures… then out to a 200’ perimeter boundary as a fire fuels buffer. This is not ‘clear cutting!’ It is selectively cleaning up fire-friendly forest debris and removing problem trees for your protection plan.
Following your pruning in the next few weeks, haul all the trimmings well away from any healthy trees into an area for chipping or burning as part of later spring [mid-April] vegetation clean up/disposal.
Doing this work in the time frame from November into early January interrupts pine bark beetle reproductive patterns; provides for pine tree natural wound healing for happy, healthy pines; and eases the task of keeping your home safely FireWise.
Remember, Ips and other boring bark beetles are still with us! Read these articles for more about the problem:
FireWise – To-Do List Q4 – Survey & Planning
[FireWise zones 0’ to 5’ / 5’ to 30’ / 30’ to 200’]
In the 0’ to 5’ zone (especially since all the oaks and shrubs are bare right now)
• Walk around your house, other buildings and property
• Inspect them from roof peak to the ground, taking note of debris and leaf litter in gutters, valleys and other nooks and crannies. These need to be safely cleared for winter rain and snow and rechecked in the spring before fire season.
• From the foundation at ground level, identify all natural litter or vegetation needing clean up or maintenance and any firewood or other items that would be more safely stored away from structures out 30’.
In the 5’ to 30’ to 200’ zones (with the grasses matted and bushes and trees bare of leaves)
• Identify for spring and summer work any clear-up trimming or removal that would reduce chances of fire traveling to a structure.
• Develop your maintenance plan for mowing or landscape work to keep these areas safe from windborne embers or fire running on the ground.
Attending to these tasks now will make accomplishing the work and maintaining the safety of your property throughout the coming 2025 fire season simple and easy!
Resources
Contact me, Tom McMackin, 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. Please call me if you don’t receive a timely response to your email!
Online resources:
Firewise – https://www.nfpa.org/en/Education-and-Research/Wildfire/Preparing-homes-for-wildfire or https://www.nfpa.org/education-and-research/wildfire
Ready, Set, Go! – https://www.iafc.org/docs/default-source/pdf/rsg-eag.pdf