Homeowners are encouraged to create defensible space during Fire Prevention Week.
The Douglas Forest Protective Association and the Umpqua National Forest are teaming up to share that message.
A release from both agencies said the first National Fire Prevention Day took place on October 9, 1911 and was in remembrance of the Great Chicago Fire that occurred between October 8th and 10th in 1871. That fire burned over 2,000 acres and destroyed 17,400 structures, killing 300 people, and leaving 100,000 people homeless. While that fire was the best-known blaze to erupt during a three-day period, it wasn’t the biggest. That distinction goes to the Peshtigo Fire, which started on the same day as the Great Chicago Fire. It roared through northeast Wisconsin, destroying 16 towns, killing over 1,150 people and scorching 1.2 million acres before it was put out.
While fire season may be over locally, fire officials say now is the perfect time to prepare for the next wildfire by creating or maintaining defensible space around homes and property.
Riva Duncan, Fire Staff Officer for the Umpqua National Forest, said that besides fire itself, the biggest risk to homes are a wildfire’s hot embers. She said they can fly a mile or more in the air, ahead of the actual flame front. Once those embers land, they can ignite leaves, needles and debris that have accumulated on or around homes within a matter of minutes.
Pat Skrip, District Manager for DFPA said “homeowners who reduce the fire danger around their home and property increase the odds that their home will survive if a wildfire occurs”. He said the most effective way to do this is by creating defensible space.
Skrip said defensible space is the area around a home or other structure where fuels and vegetation have been treated, cleared or reduced to slow the spread of wildfire. He said by having adequate defensible space, the risk of a wildfire spreading from the surrounding vegetation to a nearby home is greatly reduced.
The release said homeowners can create defensible space by pruning nearby trees, removing underbrush, mowing tall grass and by removing all dead or dying vegetation within 200 feet of a structure. In addition, pine needles and leaves which have accumulated in gutters, on the roof, and other places around the home should also be removed. Firewood should not be stacked against any inhabited structure.
Kyle Reed from DFPA talked about defensible space on the Morning Conversation Tuesday on News Radio 1240 KQEN. That interview is a KQEN Podcast at www.541radio.com.
Additional information about defensible space can be found at www.firewise.org.