It’s wildfire season in Washington and with Wildfire Awareness Week (May 2-8) coming, here’s a look at one small community that has prepared for the worst.
The Camas Ridge area on Blewett Pass is no stranger to wildfire. The community on the east face of the Cascades, north of Cle Elum, narrowly escaped catastrophe in 1994 when the Rat Creek fire exploded across Highway 97 before being stopped at Brender Canyon. Ten years earlier, another close call with fire also threatened the community.
Homeowners and residences there now have the additional protections of shaded fuel breaks designed with DNR’s help and federal wildfire reduction grants. A shaded what, you ask?
Shaded fuel breaks are created by selectively thinning out brush, small trees, low-hanging limbs and other vegetation near the ground while leaving most of the mature fire-tolerant trees in place. In other words, you get a firebreak but still have trees and shade.
Homeowners in Camas Ridge chose their home sites to enjoy expansive views from a ridge top. But this steep terrain can act as a chimney to rapidly funnel up wildfire from below.
The landowners realized they needed a way to slow fire from spreading to their homes and a place for firefighters to make a stand should a blaze break out again.
After consulting with DNR foresters and fire prevention experts, several landowners opted for a 17-acre shaded fuel break around their homes.
The project was thanks to a National Fire Plan Grant, which funds projects that reduce hazardous fuels on non-federal lands where houses have been built close to the forest; in other words, places like Camas Ridge
When projects like this are created there is a great deal of time and effort given to working with the homeowners. DNR foresters asked the landowners to flag any trees or bushes that they wanted to keep. A contractor performed the work following the plan designed by DNR and the homeowners. Trimmings from the project were chipped and blown back out on the forest floor to create biodegradable nutrients that nurture the trees and help retain ground moisture.
Most landowners want to do the right thing but are also torn by wanting the privacy that the forest gives them. They have created their sense of place and don’t want to lose it even though they realize some of the trees and brush must be removed to provide defensible space should another wildfire threaten.
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