FireWise Teams offer free home visits to Fairbanks North Star Borough residents.
Alaskans are notoriously self-reliant, but when it comes to preparing their homes and property to withstand the threat of a wildfire, many are unprepared. Studies have shown that homes often burn after the wildfire has passed by. Debris-filled nooks where embers can smolder may be as great a danger as that nearby spruce. Most of the fires in the Fairbanks North Star Borough are human-caused, and many of those are started when people burn piles in the spring and summer.
"Homes don’t burn if homes don’t ignite."
The Division of Forestry and the Fairbanks North Star Borough received a grant from USDA Forest Service in 2009 to promote FireWise principles. The efforts are a response to critical needs identified in the Community Wildfire Protection Plans, which were completed in many areas in 2007. Those plans called for more education regarding defensible space and what landowners and community groups could do to reduce their risks.
The Fairbanks North Star Borough is kicking off the FireWise for All Seasons campaign, following the success of Kenai Peninsula which encourages residents to think about reducing fire risk year-round.
During this summer, communities will be visited by trained FireWise Teams, who will review the features of your home and make recommendations regarding how to improve or create defensible space around your property. Teams will support and assist individual homeowners in understanding and applying the Firewise principals.
Residents can call their local fire department to sign up for a free home evaluation visit.
For more information go to www.firewise.org