Everyone knows San Juan Island is surrounded by the waters of Puget Sound, but did you know that almost the entire island is active in wildfire prevention?
Yes, wildfires can occur on the San Juan Islands! However, thanks to grant money from the Western State Fire Managers, DNR worked in cooperation with the San Juan County Fire Marshal’s office and San Juan County Fire Protection District #3 to conduct a fuel reduction project in the active Firewise communities across the island. This project helped to reduce the buildup of unwanted, flammable vegetation around homes. There are 30 active Firewise communities on San Juan Island and almost all participated in this project.
What is Firewise Community USA?
The Firewise Communities USA program is a multi-agency effort designed to reach beyond the fire service by involving homeowners, community leaders, planners, developers, and others. It aims to protect people, property, and natural resources from the risk of wildland fire — before a fire starts. The approach emphasizes community responsibility for planning in the design of a safe community. The responsibility extends to developing an effective emergency response, and individual responsibility for safer home construction, design, landscaping and maintenance.
More communities need to become a Firewise Community.
On San Juan Island, residents gathered and piled their yard waste, while DNR crews picked up and chipped the material. This was a teachable moment for DNR to meet with residents and discuss other safe and effective Firewise practices that the communities can accomplish.
San Juan Island also is very lucky to have a volunteer firefighter, Ron Garner, who has adopted the Firewise mantra and ran with it. Ron has attended national Firewise conventions and has been recognized by Firewise Communities USA at the national level. Without Ron and the support of the San Juan County Fire Protection District #3, the participation would have been much lower.
Overall this was a great success because relationships are created with neighbors that help foster wildfire prevention. The San Juan Island community has well exceeded our expectations.
For more information on how to become a Firewise Community, log on to http://www.firewise.org/
