This year’s wildfires offer a painful reminder that rural homeowners can lose a lot, and quickly. Loss of life is devastating, but beyond that, losing a home or other valuable property can wipe out a lifetime of work. While no prevention tactic is perfect, there are some approaches you can take in the landscape around your rural home to help keep wildfires from wiping out everything.

That’s the focus of an upcoming meeting in Akron, Colo. Slated for 10 a.m. on Sept. 14 in the public meeting room in the County Courthouse Annex on 181 Birch Avenue, the event will focus on the FireWise program. The aim of the meeting is to provide landowners information about creating a defensible space around their home, to explain what types of materials can be used for construction that are more fire-resistant; and to show ways to enhance landscape with plants that also are more fire-resistant.

Matt Norville, Colorado state community and plains forester for northeast Colorado, will be presenting and sharing some of his personal experiences from fighting some of Colorado’s major fires. Attendees will learn techniques to provide an edge in case of a wildfire.

The program is based on the FireWise program developed by the Colorado State Forest Service, developed after extensive study of previous wildfires.

If you’re interested in attending, RSVP to Jeannie Lambertson at the Washington County Extension Office at 970-345-2287. A minimum of five attendees is needed to present the program.

More about FireWise
The FireWise program has been developed to work with both mountain- and plains-based properties. The guidelines offer insight on everything from access to your property by emergency crews (they can’t help if they can’t find you or the roads are too narrow) to maintenance issues that can help protect buildings in case of a fire.

While some fires are hot enough to burn through even the best protective measures, these tactics can slow a fire and perhaps prevent damage to property if something happens. You can also download information on these tactics by visiting csfs.colostate.edu and searching “firewise.”

Source: Colorado State Extension