Using good fire in the landscape can only occur if communities in fire prone forests are safe. It’s essential that every community has in place and implements a community wildfire protection plan (CWPP). A CWPP ensures population centers are as safe as they can be and ready to confront wildfire when it occurs.
Home Hardening
Homes and other buildings are often the most flammable materials in a wildfire. Ensuring that embers do not ignite on your home is priority #1. Fire resistant roofing and siding along with screening or installing ember resistant vents are critical.
Defensible Space
Defensible Space (0 to 200 feet from buildings) – Minimizing flammable material and vegetation in the area surrounding your home can make all the difference. The most important zone is in the five feet immediately surrounding your home where removing or greatly reducing flammable material is top priority.
Wildland Urban Interface
Often referred to by the acronym WUI (pronounced Woo-ie) this is the area within about a mile and a half from the edge of town. Vegetation in this zone should be managed carefully to reduce flammability and the risk of fire getting into the tops of trees. This includes heavy thinning and strategic fire breaks.
A community wildfire protection plan identifies a suite of strategies that a community can implement to make it more likely to cope with the risk of wildfire in the vicinity. A good plan includes:
- A plan to reduce human caused ignitions.
- A plan to strategically reduce fuel loads in the wildland urban interface, including a plan for fuel breaks and defensible space.
- A plan to reduce the ignitability of homes and other structures in the community.
- A disaster plan for community resource when a fire occurs.
- A plan to restore beneficial fire, to the extent possible, in the surrounding landscape.