 Hello and welcome, my name is John Getter and we really appreciate you joining us for this special program today about a very difficult and important topic facing all of America. Wildland Urban Interface Fires. It's a mouthful but more than that it could be a major threat to your community if you don't prepare properly and that's what we're about today. What are wildland urban interface fires? What do they like? What happens when these fires hit communities? How does it affect the firefighters, the homeowners? We're going to be addressing all of that today and we're going to start out by asking that simple question, what are they, of Bill Mills from Colorado Springs Fire Department, Bill? Wildland Urban Interface Fire is unique in that we're talking about disciplines in agency or community or in the value programming of firefighters from natural fuels to man-made fuels or vice versa and the primary carriers in most cases in wildfire would be your natural fuels as carried to the constructed fuels or the structures that the urban firefighters are interested in. So it's a really, it's an interesting collision of not only physics in that the natural fuels and their relationship with the structure is a physical property but it's a behavioral piece also, behavioral in that wildfire types that come through the agency's value program early in their careers in a specific way and a way of thinking, believing and behaving and the structure fire types come up through a different world and so as we work together now we're not only changing some physical properties as it relates to wildfire and structures, natural fuels but we're changing some behavioral properties as well. And Bill it's interesting to know too you use these two phrases together that a lot of people probably over time have not considered together both urban and wildland because they really do affect each other even though they're very different and they are affecting more and more people as I understand it. The only rule of thumb is that anywhere natural fuel comes adjacent to constructed fuel or structures you might have a notion of wildland urban interface. Many definitions classic urban interface or classic interface might be something that's viewed as having a very typical frontier in other words you can turn and point to the forest and see it, intermix maybe something as simple as structures and urban density as it relates to forest. Occluded interface might be development that simply surrounds our notion of what forest might be. So rule of thumb is that just about any place that you could come up with natural fuel as it relates to constructed fuel could be considered this notion of interface or intermix. It's a big topic and we have some big help today joining us along with Bill is Mike Darty the U.S. Fire Administration. Also Dan Bailey from the U.S. Forest Service and over here on the far end of the table is Chief Will May from the Alachua County Fire and Rescue. People who don't know where Alachua County is it's essentially Gainesville in North Florida. North Florida. Thanks all of you for joining us today. We heard what Bill was talking about there kind of setting the table for what we're going to be discussing here these fires. But Mike let me ask you this you've been somebody who has started your career jumping out of airplanes to help fight fires out in the woods out in the forest but more and more of these forests in the cities are becoming almost one aren't they? Yes they are. I think what's important to realize is that the wildland firefighter now is having to on a daily basis deal with homes and construction in the wildland setting and the urban firefighter is now having to deal with the wildland and they're coming together and I think it's very important that they learn how to work together and meet together and plan together for these events because they're going to happen in each other's backyards and working together I think is going to be the key to success. Dan how do you put that into practice? Well I think that all over the United States we're seeing more and more wildland urban interface fires occurring so it's forcing this interaction between structural fire departments and wildland people to work together and when I say forcing it there's a lot of training and a lot of things happening in advance of these but it's really kind of bridging the gap of what it's been a decade ago with these two wildland structural people working together in an effective way to deal with these types of fires. And Will have you found big changes in the last several years because of the development in your area where these two areas are coming together and you're fighting different fires than you may have a few years ago because of this confluence of people and the wildlands? Yes we are with the rapidly increasing population in Florida and most of those that most of that population growth are folks that are not familiar with the Florida situation they typically retired from the remote parts of the nation. What we're finding is that since about the mid 90s that in Florida the structural fire service and the wildland fire service at which is primarily a state level service have begun to work more and more together we're cross training the wildland firefighters are receiving a NFPA firefighter one level of structural fire protection training and the structural firefighters are going and getting the training at least to the firefighter two level and wildland standards we're also picking up the incident command system that has been used for many years by the wildland services and we're integrating that into our process. Dan I would think a lot of folks watching this might have the initial impression that I wouldn't expect to hear about this in Florida I always thought these were in the big forest that people like you help us take care of out in the west in the mountains and so on and they certainly are there but they've been happening all around the country right? Well that's right I think one of the things that people don't understand and I think the perception is that it's always been a problem in the west but you look around over the last two decades and it's wildland interface fires are occurring in New Jersey New York you know Minnesota and Texas I mean it's pretty much across the board in every state they're seeing these types of fires and these kinds of situations occurring. Mike that's got to make it a big challenge changing quickly especially in light of 9-11 and the new emphasis on anti-terrorism in the country. I think so I think that the folks working together and needing to work together is it's kind of a it's a different culture and bringing the two cultures together is very important I think that as Dan was saying the interface problem as it has spread across the country partially it's linked to issues reliant the climate I think we're a little bit hotter a little bit warmer we're finding that the fire seasons as we call them are lasting longer and they're more severe the acre is burned every year is increasing it's getting to be it's getting larger and larger and with more and more communities being built in the intermix it's creating another dimension of a problem to the firefighter they have to dealing with public safety and the evacuations and they can't and they have to deal with those before they can concentrate on an extinguishment of the incident itself. Bill Mills these fires seem very different they behave in ways that can be very different from simple wildfires and simple building fires I understand. It's very very opportunistic I know that for years and years in the fire service we could model fire behavior as it relates just to structures inside the cube inside the shape or the house the environment is fairly static in other words consideration for fire load and the contents it's pretty predictable with mother nature involved if the winds up all bets are off fuel weather and topography all play dynamic parts in a wildfire and in dynamic meaning that just ever changing so notions of modeling as it relates to wildfire behavior are simply snapshots in time the industry is moving toward more real time looks at being able to model wildfire but it's truly a dynamic event so they're very different they're very dynamic they can be a big challenge for the firefighters but many of you may not have actually seen one of these wildland urban interface fires other than little snippets in the news so before we get too much farther into our program today let's get a little more on these fires and how they behave. Each year thousands of wildland fire ignitions occur throughout the United States. Each of these fire starts must be managed to meet identified resource management objectives. In order to select the proper fire management option we must have a thorough knowledge of wildland fire behavior. When an ignition occurs it has the potential to grow into a major wildland fire depending on the existing environmental conditions. It may have dramatic effects on resource values appearance and public opinion. What unleashes this powerful force of change well it begins simply enough perhaps a carelessly thrown match an unattended campfire or a thunderstorm then before long a rapidly growing wildland fire which requires extensive management. Yet every wildland fire that starts like this doesn't become a big fire because firefighters like you may intervene and stop it firefighters who know how a wildland fire behaves. In order to manage fire you must learn the characteristics of fire and the factors that influence fire spread. The more you know about wildland fire behavior the more likely you are to select the appropriate fire management strategy which provides for safety while meeting resource management objectives. Fire begins with ignition the match is the most common ignition device friction creates sufficient heat to ignite the phosphorus combustion occurs the match flames the three most important ingredients required for combustion are heat oxygen and fuel heat oxygen and fuel complete the fire triangle and are necessary components to create fire if any of these are missing there can be no fire in this demonstration we have all of the ingredients necessary for combustion heat from the match oxygen from the air and fuel in the candle but remove one of these ingredients in this case oxygen and the fire goes out the same principle is used in managing wildland fires we control such fires by removing heat by removing oxygen by removing fuel in wildland fires heat sufficient to cause combustion is transferred to new sources of fuel in three different ways by conduction by convection and by radiation conduction is the transfer of heat within the material itself most metals are good heat conductors but would on the other hand is a poor conductor and transmits heat slowly conduction is not an important factor in the spread of wildland fire convection is the transfer of heat by flow of liquids or gases in the case of wildland fires convection is well illustrated by the air and burned gases which rise above the fire if the heated mixture is confined to a column the convection current can be strong perhaps strong enough to reach 20,000 feet or higher into the atmosphere convection may cause dry snags to burn rapidly another method of transferring heat is by radiation the earth for instance is heated from the sun by radiation through space in wildland fires radiation will dry fuel ahead of the fire and increase its ability to ignite how fire behaves when only one type of fuel is involved is simple in comparison with the complex nature of a wildland fire when a variety of fuels combined with weather and topography with careful observation of fuel weather and topography we can see the influence of each of these environmental elements and reasonably predict expected wildland fire behavior the first element we must observe is fuel wildland fire behavior is affected by the amount of moisture in the fuel dry fuel burns faster than wet fuel size and shape of fuel is also a contributing factor light fuel is quickly heated and ignited as it is surrounded by plenty of oxygen fire and light fuel spreads rapidly but burns out quickly heavy fuel warm slowly and the interior becomes exposed to oxygen only after the outside has burned off fuel loading on an area is an obvious factor the more fuel available the more total heat output ordinarily the greater the fuel loading readily available for burning the more intense the fire will be there is low fuel loading here there is high fuel loading here however fuel loading may be arranged in different ways thus continuity and arrangement may be more important than fuel loading itself the fuel may be spread uniformly over the ground or it may be patchy there may be little fuel standing in the air above the ground or there may be a lot of fuel above the ground in the form of snags trees and tall shrubs all of these will affect the behavior of a wildland fire along with fuel another important element affecting wildland fire behavior is weather temperature of the air influences fire temperature of the fuel determines how fast it will ignite and burn there may be 50 degrees difference between fuel temperature in the sun and in the shade certainly one of the most important least understood and least predictable influences affecting wildland fire behavior is wind wind makes fire burn faster by increasing the supply of oxygen and by driving convection heat into new fuel wind can encourage combustion and the spread of fire in one direction or it can cause rapid change in spread direction wind carries sparks and firebrands ahead of the main fire starting spot fires wind increases evaporation from damp surfaces by carrying away moist air and replacing it with drier air this directly affects fuel moisture influences wildland fire behavior because it affects the rate of combustion when fuel is moist combustion is slow because more heat is required to evaporate the moisture as fuel becomes drier more heat is available to heat the fuel itself to demonstrate this point the same type of fuel with different fuel moistures was burned in a special test chamber the fuel in the upper chamber has a fuel moisture content of 7% the fuel in the lower chamber has a fuel moisture content of 25% all other conditions are equal note the higher combustion rate of the drier fuel in the upper chamber relative humidity is a factor of weather that indirectly affects wildland fire behavior dead fuel and the air are always exchanging moisture dry air air characterized as having low relative humidity takes moisture from the fuel fuel in turn takes moisture from the air when the relative humidity is high fuel moisture content changes in response to changes in the relative humidity of the surrounding air the size of fuel will influence how quickly the fuel takes on or gives off moisture in response to a change in relative humidity a light fuel such as pine needles readily shows the difference due to humidity as fuel size increases fuel moisture will respond slower to a change in relative humidity all of these factors of weather on their own or in combination can change rapidly and will affect the behavior of a wildland fire topography is another environmental element to observe in order to understand wildland fire behavior aspect or direction in which a slope faces determines how much heating it gets from the sun different aspects receive sunlight at different times of day therefore fuel temperature a different aspect will change at different times throughout the day slope is another important influence of topography the steeper a slope the faster a fire burns on a steep slope the fuel uphill from the fire is preheated by radiation and convection and ignites easily the position of the fire whether near the bottom of a slope with unburned fuel above or near the top of a ridge with a change in fuel or slope ahead of the fire is another topographic factor the basic shape of the country in the vicinity of a fire is an important influence when a wildland fire is burning in broken topography for example if a canyon is narrow heat transfer by radiation can dry adjacent fuel on the opposite slope this can allow fire to cross the canyon steep canyons can have the same effect on fire as the chimney on a stove they create a forced convection another effect of topography is the influence of elevation this is shown by the earlier drying out of vegetation and fuel at lower elevations in early spring looking back we have seen that the fire triangle of heat oxygen and fuel is necessary for combustion to occur once a fire starts it spreads by transferring heat energy through conduction convection and radiation the behavior of a wildland fire after it is established depends on the following environmental elements fuel weather and topography all acting together when all three are favorable for the spread of fire almost anything can happen that is anything can happen unless you as a firefighter intervene one way to keep fire manageable is for you to determine fire management strategy based on your knowledge of how a wildland fire will behave in its changing environment is this a log or is it a fuel to sustain a fire is this slope merely a hard climb or is it a made-to-order path for fire and is this a breathtaking view or a stoked and ready furnace waiting for ignition think in terms of fire behavior and firefighter safety when dealing with a wildland fire remember it is the sum of many factors that makes a wildland fire burn as it does each area of course is unique has its own concerns its own ways of looking at issues most of the video that we showed you there of course was in mountainous areas but well we need to mention again you don't have a lot of mountains in gamesville but you do have more than your share of fire sometimes well that's true and most of the southeastern United States and the east coast is the same way but we tend to have a lot more dense vegetation there's more fuel per acre and much of that fuel has as easily ignited and tends to burn with great intensity so the problem remains the same even though the environment may look a little different the real problem is the fire that that comes up in these two areas that come together the urban and the wildland that's correct that's correct typically it's us it's people growing into the rural area you bet and bill mills you always seem to be preaching the the the beauty of reducing risks of mitigating what do you think is the most important thing for people to know mitigation is is the biggest bank for the buck mitigation is simply reducing your risk we're never in a condition in this industry to prevent much but we can make the risk smaller and given that you would follow typical mitigation process we can say you would have a 50-50 chance with everything that you own and we think those are pretty good odds so engage and share the responsibility of mitigating this hazard and dan there's a term that of that is used that people may hear fire wise and fire wise communities key to that is mitigating as we say being ready being prepared very much so i think mitigation i agree is the most effective tool that we have in the toolbox today and what we have to remember is the public has a responsibility to do things in living in the wildland urban interface they made the decision to live there and they have some responsibilities that they need to understand to help mitigate this problem with wildland urban interface fires and working with wildland and structural people it's a partnership that really can prove to be very effective if all the players are sitting at the table and working on it and mike we can't emphasize that enough can we that that it is not a problem to hand off to our firefighters it's not a problem to hand off to some government planners somewhere it's a problem for all of us homeowners citizens firefighters whatever it is a collective problem and i think that the there are tools as dan has stated the homeowners need to take the responsibility as well as community community leaders in the form of building codes and zoning ordinances to assist the the fire organizations to be better prepared to to mitigate these problems that we see along with the partnership and the compliance by the homeowners to these different kind of rules and regulations to assist them in keeping their home safe well is it getting any easier is awareness of this problem being raised enough that people respond as they should are you getting the public support that you need as a firefighter to be able to stay in the firehouse not be out there putting out fires it's slow to catch on there are isolated areas in our in our part of the state that now are very aware of the fire wise concepts but for the most part people think that when the fire threatens that the fire department and the forestry service are going to be there to protect them and in reality there's so many houses and so many people in the interface that we don't have the resources to protect every house and every person dan is there a single point you'd like to make before we close out this segment oh well i think again uh i i agree i think that that we have watched america change over the last two decades with increased numbers of homes lost and and more and more fires more people living in the interface areas and it's everybody's responsibility it's not just the fires great well thanks very much uh this this section of our program today has been an introduction it's not the final answer it's not designed to do anything more than just get you aware and get you involved because your involvement your awareness is in fact clearly our best defense have been against this growing problem across america we've not tried to offer you all the answers just raise some of the questions and hope that you'll continue to raise the questions in your communities because these are the questions that you and your community should be asking yourselves so you look out the window and you realize your house is not just in suburbia but it's in a place that we call a wildland urban interface we're going to continue our discussions with our panel of experts here and with bill mills out in colorado springs now i'm going to start with bill bill many people think the answer to keeping their house safe in a in one of these wildland urban interface areas is just clearing the land or many of these homeowners surprised to learn they face wildland urban fire concerns and what they thought was just suburbia the whole perception of the mitigation piece now is that you go rent a bulldozer and you cut a 30 foot circle completely around any structures that might be out there and that is certainly not what we're about in my community we're not about clear cutting we're about managing uh horizontal and vertical separations of natural fuels and as opposed to removal more reduction of fuels it's uh for your old fire science types it's a reduction in the btu's and natural fuels and that ignitability piece up against the net or the manmade fuel which is the structure so they need to look at horizontal and vertical um separations of fuel as it relates to their house they need to look at the dangerous adjacent topography as it relates to their house what does that mean that means are you situated on a ridge line in a saddle a chimney a canyon that's going to influence wildfire behavior is their dangerous adjacent vegetation what is your roof type what are the siding types double pane versus single pane windows uh were non combustible features addressed in the landscaping of the property like patio decks and walkways and and those natural fuels that would be directly adjacent to window openings in the house and so on so we are asking the the community at large it's as we visit with them we still hear old cold war solutions to everything and it's time for the community at large to engage in this possibility of knowing as much about wildfire mitigation as i know about it because as we've said in the past it ain't rocket science folks but there is a fair amount of physics involved so we'd like to have them look at their properties and be the fire understand fire and its behavior and and and see if they are at risk now we'll talk about responding to a fire in just a few minutes but the biggest advice for homeowners is clearly that they need to act before a fire happens to minimize the chances that their house will burn again this is not a west coast problem it's not an east coast problem it's a national problem and it can occur in almost any part of these united states so bill what's the most common mistake that you've seen people make before a fire threatens them what mistakes have you seen them make hands-on i worry about citizens who may woefully overestimate their capabilities i'm just going to take a stab at those physics uh a heat pulse of 1200 degrees for 120 seconds um john wane with a garden hose isn't going to save the kids on that one so use your community to help you define what the level of acceptable risk is um and create a reality picture for them on stand and fight issues uh before a fire a common mistake is i've got insurance uh it'll take care of it and i think people need to uh get with their carrier and see what a reality piece is on on replacement of that insurance or replacement of their property at 100 percent and really what that insurance will cover um another misperception is it just isn't going to happen here and reality is that our lifespans are a little out of sync with mother nature's uh fire interval if you will so it's not a matter of if uh fires are going to happen in your wildland urban interface it's a matter of when so it can happen here and at some time it it probably will happen here is the rule that you have to follow it can happen in many places so what can you do to help reduce your risk well let's take a look at a video that was produced out in kitsi county washington news wildfires destroyed another 17 homes and what local officials described as the worst we never worried about wildfire the last one was back in 1930 some caused by lightning but some deliberately sat authorities listed 27 homes as immediately endangered dozens more at risk the greater population density in rural areas is the natural result of urban growth the increased cost of living traffic jams and other frustrations are leading people to seek property in remote and often forested areas as metropolitan areas expand we can expect to confront many challenges in this overlapping area of civilization and wilderness which we call the wildland urban interface one major concern fire on one hand fires a natural and important part of the ecosystem on the other hand in a human environment fire can be destructive even deadly poor signage and road conditions secluded homesteads and overgrowth hinder the ability of firefighters to arrive in time to protect lives and property hello i'm roger ferris and today we're talking about how to enjoy this lush forested area in ways that enhance the safety and beauty of our homes homeowners are learning that it's possible to maintain an attractive natural landscape while reducing the risk of starting a wildfire and reducing the risk of destruction caused by an advancing wildfire we've made our project a weekend event with partnerships between government local organizations and the homeowners to be able to show you a difference at this one residence joining us are a group of experts who will provide tips to help us create wildfire resistant landscapes and gardens that look great does that sound confusing or expensive it doesn't have to be most of what you're going to see today you'll be able to do yourself the technical resources are usually free and the work can be done alone or possibly by trading labor with a neighbor who may also get risk let's get started hi peg hey roger fire safety can be a real challenge especially when trees such as this are too close to the home nature has a way of moving in but there are ways to control it your garden and yard is a wonderful place to spend time enjoy your yard by maintaining it a little at a time examine your garden you may already have the right plants on your property that just need to be moved or trained Derek this is a beautiful setting what's the problem here well you see beauty i see fuel fire requires three things fuel oxygen and heat reduce any of these and you reduce the possibility of fire in a forest like this since we can't do much about oxygen or heat we've learned to focus on fuel the new loud nature to grow right up to the front door this is if you're extending a bridge of fuel for the fire directly from the forest to your home stop the fire by removing the bridge for example this tree what i recommend is to remove the tree or at the very least trim the branches away from the house now ivy is a fire retardant plant but unfortunately it's also extremely invasive you're right Derek unfortunately we don't have to sacrifice beauty to prevent fire we can learn to manage nature's growth and add value to our property by correctly maintaining the landscape did you know there are specific plants that are actually resistant to fire and some have the added benefit of resisting drought a good quality in any location with long hot summers maintaining a garden with hardy plants like these can mitigate hazards associated with wildfire good gardening practices are commonly overlooked as one way to reduce the risks associated with fires in fact there are many creative options available that actually reduce the potential for wildfire Derek peg use the word mitigate what does that mean for the person on the street well mitigation just means the ongoing activities we take before an emergency that will reduce or even eliminate damage those sound like sensible precautions hey glad you could make it Jim why don't you walk us through the project so far okay you know keeping a yard up is a constant process and there's no one-time fix for everything in this situation we decided to prune some trees that were too close to the house here's what it looked like when we started with the help of Puget sand energy and ask one tree expert company we removed these overhanging maple trees from the west side of the home removing trees of this size requires quite a bit of expertise and for safety's sake it's a good idea to do this when we're not going to have a lot of people moving around below once you remove trees of this size you will also have to grind the stuff clearing about a 30-foot perimeter here creates a couple definite benefits as Derek mentioned it removes bridges that direct fire from the forest to the home more sunlight the yard gives us options for new plants and flowers before we go further let's mention a couple of things you should consider before undertaking a project of this sort in your home first defensible space is a term you'll hear throughout this video it is the area between your home and the surrounding wilderness that acts as a safety buffer during a fire it changes depending on the terrain and ranges between 30 to 100 feet from your home in all directions second permits are not negotiable if they're required in your area you need to get them so do your homework another consideration is use of native plants they are more resistant to disease and many pose a lower fire risk these are examples of northwest native plants and they're quite beautiful this is a commonly overlooked part of planting a new defensible space garden having the right plants can mean the difference between a healthy yard and a jungle now back to our tour of the project jim let's see how things are going and clearing as you can see roger quite a few trees were removed for today's mitigation makeover we wanted to maintain the natural field as property with animal habitats preserved as best as possible here we're actually creating critter environments with some of the branches and rather than burn what's left over which causes pollution is often unsafe and often illegal we're going to mulch our yard waste to recycle for ground cover so now i know what to plant around my home but as a homeowner how thrilled am i that you want me to cut down a bunch of my trees trees are one of the reasons i moved out here in the first place no that's not what we're saying these trees are native and drought resistant and fire resistant they just need a little attention you have to keep branches like these from hanging over the roof or close to the eaves and trimming them back will help reduce that chance this was a gary oak one of only a couple natural oak species to be found in the northwest so it would have been a terrible shame to cut it down here's how we cleaned it up cut away the overhang and made it a much safer tree what about timing is there a best season to do wildfire maintenance good question we recommend early spring or later in the fall because the hot spark from a chainsaw in july could ignite the fire we're trying to avoid he's right once the fire gets started it could spread in a variety of ways it can move across tree tops burning extremely hot but moving quickly enough that it doesn't sustain too much heat it can also travel through the air as far as half mile in advance of a big crown fire those little floating embers can easily find their way into small crevices between wood shingles or around the home and smoker eventually starting a fire near the ground fire can move from tree branch to brushed to wood stack or debris which is what we've addressed here looking around this house we are trying to locate areas that are particularly prone to fire leaves and debris can act as dry tender for airborne embers this brush growing right up to the garage is the textbook example of extending a fire bridge directly from the forest to your home another common fire bridge is debris piled next to a structure combustible items like this are an open invitation to spreading fire and embers look for unprotected areas on the ease decks and porches or small openings that might hide smothering material what about a deck or a wooden shingled roof those are the areas that we need to be concerned about we also want to close off any openings under ease or other small openings around the structure now i noticed in the plan that there's going to be a deck or patio located in the backyard is that going to be trouble not at all because of the wildfire potential we specifically wanted to put a brick patio here it's practical and it looks great for the homeowner and best of all it forms a non flammable barrier between the home and forest well that's fine here but what if i already have a wooden deck good question pressure treated lumber requires a lot higher temperature and sustained exposure to fire to really ignite so we don't worry much about them on the other hand wood shake roofing is another story since roofing specifications vary with geographic regions we strongly recommend consulting with local billing departments for appropriate fire resistant ratings remember the larger the surface area the greater the chance an ember will land on it and in wildfires embers can be as big as a dinner plate airborne embers are responsible for a huge percentage of homes burning even if the actual forest fire doesn't come close enough to ignite the house fortify your home so embers can't find a way into hidden pockets excellent point come on let's go check out the progress on the patio as you can see this area of the home hasn't been used much because it was nearly overgrown by the forest this patio will help put a buffer zone between the trees and homes to prevent future vegetative growth and it will also make a great new area to have a barbecue or just relax we've leveled this area to grade and we're in the process of laying the pavers local mitigation projects like this one are really great it's so important that each home and family is protected against wildfires floods and earthquakes every precaution taken now will increase the chances of saving homes when disaster strikes and if it means I have to get my hands dirty oh well and having all these volunteers pitch in to help really raises awareness of land stewardship and mitigation when we have a chance to help someone out while educating the public all the better what do you think melody it looks great and although it does take some work some money and some time the cost is nothing compared to what we would lose if we actually had a wildfire by following the process that we've outlined here learning about permits vocabulary plants and the nature of fire it's possible to increase safety for all of us fires are a fact of life in wildland urban interface areas but we can and must take steps to keep the hazards to a minimum if you're currently building your home plan your landscape so it won't encroach onto your property too far and if you're working with a landscape architect consider carefully what vegetation you use and where you locate it and remember just because a forested area hasn't burned recently does not mean it won't burn it has years of unchecked growth for fuel so how your garden grows may well determine how your house survives and we were looking at a tape there of course from the pacific northwest the the rules are different the environments are different but the common sense is the same whether it's in the pacific northwest or the northwest or the southwest or anywhere across the united states and it was interesting sitting here with these uh with our panelists watching us because they of course spotted things that they said well wait a minute they should do this and they should do that and so on and so forth uh will you were talking about some of the things that you spotted there that would be different in your community because of different regulations different rules and so on but it's all about the same thing is it not which is just keeping the fire away from your house if a fire happens that's correct and it depends on the flammability or combustibility of the of the natural vegetation and trees that surround the house or surround the community uh you want to minimize as much of the high combustible to high flammable materials as you can but the other thing is not you don't have to create a moonscape around a structure to protect it but you do have to remove some fuel and you have to break that fuel up both horizontally and vertically so it's a matter of taking a number of trees and plants out to create that horizontal space in there and then to trim limbs and that sort of thing to to keep it from traveling from the surface fuels up to to the treetops so the same the same principles apply wherever you go in the country you just have to read the terrain and read the the natural vegetation and even landscape vegetation uh for your community and and work from that standpoint Mike what do you say to the homeowner though says wait I bought this property because it is kind of in the woods it is out away from everybody else in the city it's it's not like an urban lot per se I love having those beautiful trees and the brush up next to the house and so on what how do you convince them that's a difficult it's a that's a difficult question but particularly depends on the mindset of the individual about that house but I think that's where the uh the community leaders and other community members come into play because if we have ordinances and we have zoning laws to then you can force that individual to do what needs to be done it's going to take an aggressive approach by the fire service and the communities and community leaders to get everybody working on the same page because you're going to be able to get most people understanding that and taking the taking the uh the appropriate approach because it's the common sense thing to do but you're going to have the person that sits out there by themselves that doesn't want to do that and the only way that's going to happen is based on proper supportive laws and regulations dan one of the common sense things is that fire doesn't respect property lines so if you have someone in an area that is sloppy about how they prepare for or try to prevent these fires you put a whole a whole town at risk that's true and I think there's some success stories out there in the United States that have that scenario uh that you just talked about occurred in in in real life situations where uh you have a community that works really hard to fireproof fire safe you know their uh their homes and then you have people adjacent that don't do anything fire comes in there and there's been some really good success stories of fire coming into communities like that laying down so the fire departments can get in and deal with it and the people that have not dealt with that have lost homes and it's very evident and that word travels fast and you know in in uh in communities and people seem to be getting the message although it's slow but the message is starting to get out that it does make a difference and it's personal responsibility you know take care of your property and and we find that as people do that uh the ones that are a little bit reluctant to uh ultimately you know come around and and do something as well well we've been talking about prevention a lot let's talk about the the literal life and death issue of what happens when the fire is approaching your house and what should you do bill out in colorado springs you and other departments often echo what the department of homeland security has now advised all americans that we should have a 72 hour emergency kit ready at all times the first step in that event in the uh preparation piece for an emergency is understanding that these are these are common features across wildfire tornado hurricane flood disaster du jour uh the 72 hour kit what's valuable to you we have questions from neighborhoods about uh lists and precisely what should be in a 72 hour kit uh please just sit down and think about what's valuable to you if you have jewelry that's more valuable than your medications then put the jewelry in a box the point being is you are the one that makes those decisions and you must engage in what goes in the kit and in the preparation for evacuation post 9 11 evacuation is no longer a static event i won't put up evacuation signs for a wildfire because i'd have to print on them if this sign is on fire don't go here uh bad guys are gonna cause bad things to happen that can't be predicted as a static event snow routes don't work anymore the homeowners can't look for us as agencies to cause this to happen for them they have to be a part of the equation and sharing this responsibility to understand several ways out of their area well if there isn't a way out of your area then you mitigate your hazard to the degree that you can shelter in place there aren't enough engines in the western united states to cover wildfires do the math it's that easy homeowners and communities are going to have to engage in the possibility of helping themselves i'm not calling for for a volunteer militia of firefighters i'm calling for a volunteer militia of mitigators deal with this before the ignition so will when there is an ignition when there is a fire we've all seen these spectacular pictures of homeowners out on the roof with a garden hose what do you tell people about that we recommend that they not do that if it's that close they feel like they have to put water on their roof or water on their on their house they should be getting their their 72 hour kit and they should be evacuating and bill out in colorado in your community what have you told residents they can do to help the firefighters once the fire begins think about the fire environment right now you're standing in front of your home saying gee if i i just took a hose out and i could defend this and i could fight off some little sparks and brands and so on but think about the environment that is probably the worst fog day in san francisco's history as we can't even we can't even find your house to help you let alone an address it you're going to be covered up so notions like porch lights could come on so we could find you we're about saving the lives first and then the property and so the citizens can understand that strategic piece too is that if you're dead what's the point of having the house to live in so that as far as a strategic or a tactical priority for them is that mitigate your hazard and if you're not going to evacuate the area and you choose to shelter in place the whole notions of standing on roofs with garden hose and trying to put out embers the net result is you're putting firefighters at risk because you're putting yourself in harm's way and you're causing them to attempt to make a rescue when they could in effect be focusing on the fire and its extinguishment so as we wrap up let's hear some final thoughts from our experts here on the panel mike what would you want the homeowners to not forget not forget that uh the preparation of their home for the firefighters to come and protect it is probably the most important thing they can do in the mitigation matter mitigation perspective keep their kits available know what their evacuation evacuations are know how to get out and know where they're going to go when they leave and know how they're going to let their next of kin and important people know that they're okay will well that their safety is very important and it's the most important thing of all their home can be replaced the contents can be replaced they should have their own plan they should develop their plan and they should rehearse it fairly frequently and that would be when to get out how to get out and what to take with them and do it immediately Dan I think just to sum up its personal responsibility following up with everybody's comments here homeowners have to take personal responsibility to deal with the issue we're all in this one together aren't we absolutely all right well thanks all of you and and thank you for being with us for this presentation now we've seen what these fires are what you can do to help prevent them and what you have to do if they do happen if prevention has failed we need your help and we hope this has been useful in your planning it's a beginning to an end that we think we all can support trying to live safe and happy lives here in the united states of america we thank you for your support more information is available from your local fire departments we urge you to stay in contact with them they need your help and someday you may need theirs thanks again to all of our panelists and thanks