CONTRIBUTED CONTENT: Urban interface fire, part II

Last week, I confessed my trepidation for where my family lives should a wind-driven fire get started. The region is predominantly dense lodge pole and ponderosa pine stands. Everyone here wants to be fire-wise/smart, but we also value privacy screening from each other and shade. Despite development, and individual lot improvements, there are a lot of parcels that are very dense.

At our home, we have the two main defensible spaces. A green belt of irrigated lawn around the back and sides as well as a gravel drive around the buildings on the opposite side. In the second zone, trees have been thinned to improve spacing, native brush cut down and ladder fuels (low dead branches) removed up to 10-12 feet. We will continue to work at keeping these belts of defense as defendable as possible but at this point, we are down to the small details and having a plan in place should we be ordered to evacuate.

In conversation with our top-selling arborist and former wildland firefighter Chris Brookshire, he mentioned the positive impact those small details can have. “In the recent Spokane fire, embers were drifting ahead of the fire a half a mile in advance. Getting dry and dead weeds cut down, wood piles moved and needles off the roof and gutters can really lessen available fuel for those flying embers.”

Over the weekend, we did just that. Firstly, I watered down dry weedy areas to lower the risk of a spark or a hot muffler fire. I set the mower deck high and mowed them all down and weed whipped hard to reach places. We moved a firewood pile and picked up years of dry dead pinecones around my power box and meter area. It felt good. It felt impactful. It felt more defendable.

As far as our plan, we start by knowing pretty clearly where each family member is daily. We have driven several roads to know how and where we should go if our main access is closed. We keep important papers in two small safes we can grab and go as well as a bag of overnight essentials. We know our neighbors, have their phone numbers and they have ours. Our dogs are considered our family members, and our biggest concern should we get evacuated is getting to them and getting them out. If we were unable to reach home, we have neighbors who would at least let them out. We have a plan on where to meet up. We subscribe to Kootenai County Alert notifications and Watch Duty. We also plan to take photos of our home and shop contents. Having lived through a house fire, this can be very helpful when sitting down with your insurance adjuster or agent after the fact.

In closing, I just wanted to share what our family does. That said, my objective is not to preach but to get folks to consider where they live, how they might adjust to an Urban Interface fire and to have a workable plan in place.

As always, for further questions, quotes or consultations, give us a call today, 208-762-5800!

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