Spring is a great time to prepare your property for fire season

Springtime marks a pretty big occasion in Montana- time to tidy up the landscaping from last year's growth before the new buds bloom. It's time to freshen up the mix fuel, to fire up the chainsaw and trimmer, sharpen the clippers, fill the tire on the wheelbarrow, hand the rake to the teenager and make a run for lawn bags or prepare the burn pile site and go online for a burn permit. For information on burn permits and safe practices, visit mcfpa.org

We want to get these chores done to freshen up the landscaping, free us up for some spring hiking and to prepare our homes and property for the upcoming fire season. Your neighborhood firefighters all belong to the Missoula County Fire Protection Association (MCFPA). We're writing to remind you of things you can do around your home and property that will give you peace of mind when fire season arrives.

MCFPA member agencies will be busy on their side of the fence, beginning in the next few weeks as seasonal hires come on board. The chainsaws will be buzzing, reducing concentrations of hazardous fuels in and around our communities. Public servants from the Clearwater Unit (Joe Rediske joe.rediske@mt.gov 396-0338) and Seeley Lake Ranger District (Heather Martens heather.martens@usda.gov 677-3912 Ext. 3912) are your neighborhood wildfire mitigation experts. These women and men they work alongside carry with them foremost a sense of public service. They're wildland firefighters too, so when you take time to do your work this spring, you're lessening the risk they assume during fire season.

For larger jobs, seek out your DNRC service forester and your neighbors at the Blackfoot Challenge (www.blackfootchallenge.org). They can help larger landowners make a firewise plan for their forested lands that mitigates wildfire risk and promotes the health of the stand. The zone around your structures, out to 100 feet is an area in which you want to limit a fire's ability to get into the crowns and produce an ember shower on the structure.

NFPA.org has lists of actions to take within the Home Ignition Zone (HIZ). Keep in mind, most homes that burn from wildfire are not burned by a flaming front; it is a shower of embers from flaring trees and shrubs that poses the biggest threat. The HIZ includes the structure and the area just a few feet from it. Imagine an ember's flight into the HIZ. If it landed on a wooden roof, in gutters filled with dry material, under evergreen shrubs with dead needles underneath (lift up the shrub and see what's underneath), or under a deck with flammable materials where a fire could easily start out of sight. Put a plan in place to begin to replace those evergreen shrubs with native vegetation, suggested by your local nursery.

Call Joe or Heather or go online to DNRC.mt.gov "Flood and Fire" tab and "My Wildfire Risk" to request a free site visit. If your plan includes burning piles, go to http://www.burnpermit.mt.gov. This past weekend, personnel responded to a six-acre wildfire west of Missoula that burned through dead grass in high winds. Burning piles is a high-risk activity, and the more high-risk activities people engage in, the greater the chance that responders will be dispatched to do their duty. Burn permits need to be activated every day you burn. Never burn under windy conditions, never leave a pile unattended until its cold to the touch, and always have a charged hose strung out to your burn, and gloves and a shovel at the ready.

Do your part and help your neighbor. Your neighborhood's defense against wildfire may only be as good as any one owner's property. Talk to your neighbors about getting together as many hands make for light work. May is wildfire awareness month, so be on the lookout for community events in your area.

 

Reader Comments(0)