top of page

What is Firewise?

Firewise utilizes the following three-legged template:

  • Wildland fire staff from federal, state or local agencies provide a community with information about living with wildfire with mitigation information tailored to your specific community or region.

  • With the assistance of wildland fire staff, you and your neighbors assess wildfire risks around you and devise a cooperative network of other homeowners, agencies, and organizations.

  • You and your neighbors identify and implement local solutions.

Citizen Involvement

  • Citizen involvement is the cornerstone of a Firewise Community.

  • As participants in this effort you and your neighbors will learn how to decrease the risk of losing your homes and to best protect yourselves in the event of wildfire.

  • Within wildland/urban interface areas, firefighters lack the resources to defend every home that is threatened during  extreme wildfires.

  • Communities whose residents take steps to reduce their vulnerability have a greater chance of surviving a wildfire.

  • A Firewise Community offers residents in fire-prone areas a unique opportunity to implement Firewise practices specially tailored to individual and community needs.

  

Firewise utilizes the following three-legged template:

  • Wildland fire staff from federal, state or local agencies provide a community with information about living with wildfire with mitigation information tailored to your specific community or region.

  • With the assistance of wildland fire staff, you and your neighbors assess wildfire risks around you and devise a cooperative network of other homeowners, agencies, and organizations.

  • You and your neighbors identify and implement local solutions.

 

To quote a nfpa.org pamphlet “For the past couple of decades national programs like the . . . Firewise Communities/USA Fire Safe Councils have helped counties, cities and smaller entities like homeowners associations develop plans to protect themselves from wildfire.  Many communities across the country have taken advantage of the technical and organizational resources and networking opportunities these offer.  (Source: Community Wildfire Protection Plans:  Reducing Wildfire Hazards in Wild land Urban Interface.  Fire Science Digest July 2009.)”

 

How to have a Firewise home:

Home Ignition Zone

  1. Keep leaves and needles off your roof and deck.

  2. Create a fuel-free area within 3-5 feet of your home’s perimeter.

  3. From 5 feet to a minimum of 30 feet out, thin and space vegetation, remove dead leaves and needles, prune shrubs and tree limbs.

  4. Keep areas around decks, sheds, fences and swing sets clear of debris and vegetation.

bottom of page