Are You Ready for Your Firewise Neighborhood?

by Gayle Lewis, Jacksonville CERT, Gold Terrace Firewise Board Member

Just how much effort is required to be “Firewise”? This was my first question when Gold Terrace became the obvious trial neighborhood with about twenty-five homes. We would be working together to prepare our homes for resilience to fire and to submit our work for the record to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Firewise program.

Several neighbors must commit to the process. A Chair leads and acts as recordkeeper. A map and list of residents as well as a contact list must be maintained. Three are required for a Board but more is often better. The Board prepared informational packets. Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) helped the Board walk the neighborhood to distribute packets and assess each property for needs. The data was submitted to FEMA. The Board continued to make follow-up visits and organized a clean-up day with the help of the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) who provided dumpsters and manpower.

The most valuable aspect of becoming Firewise is the educational benefit and community participation. Folks look at their property with a more critical eye and help each other maintain safer landscapes. Gold Terrace qualified for two grants from ODF to remove tree limbs on large evergreens. To qualify annually, hours of work clearing yard debris and expense of yard service or green bins is tallied and submitted by the Chair each November to update the neighborhood status once it is achieved. The current plan of annual City Firewise clean-up day on the first weekend in May qualifies as the “event” for all Firewise neighborhoods.

Each of Jacksonville’s Firewise neighborhoods is unique. Those neighborhoods that interface directly with the Woodlands are priority for assistance to become Firewise. Current Firewise Boards and CERT will provide assistance and mentoring for you to take the lead in your neighborhood.

Firewise Informational Meetings.
Saturday, August 3, 10:00am & Wednesday, August 7, 6:00pm
New City Hall (Old Courthouse) lawn at 5th and D Streets.

For more information, please contact Linda Davis, Firewise Coordinator at 541-690-5688, Gayle Lewis CERT at 541-899-7023 or JvilleCERT@gmail.com, and visit www.nfpa.org/Public-Education/By-topic/Wildfire/Firewise-USA.