LIVING
Preparedness is all in resisting wildfires Make your home ready for when flames threaten
W
BY RENA SHAWVER
ildfires are a naturally occurring event in wildlands. They cleanse the forest and allow new growth. They also threaten private homes. So, what do you do to protect your family and property when you live in fire country like ours? “Prepare,” says Craig Nelson, executive director of the Okanogan Conservation District, which provides free wildfire risk assessments for property owners living within the district boundaries. Wildfire preparedness is a homeowner’s best strategy for saving private property during a wildfire. “What you do ahead of a wildfire can change how the fire responds and help firefighters do their job,” says Nelson. Okanogan County is considered “high risk” for wildfires, which will get bigger and hotter in the future due to high temperatures, drought and the accumulation of ground fuel in forested lands. But, “Wildfire doesn’t have to burn everything in its path,” says Nelson. “Property owners can reduce their risk by planning and creating space that can be defended.”
PLANNING SAVED THEIR HOUSE
Teri Pieper and Ken Bevis learned firsthand the value of being prepared for wildfire when, in August 2014, sparks from a trailer’s flat 40
tire ignited brush on the highway shoulder near Winthrop. The fire spread quickly toward homes on the Rising Eagle Road and Hootin’ Holler neighborhoods. When the fire cleared, 10 homes had burned to the ground. “The firefighters saved our house,” says Twisp resident Ken Bevis. “My wife, Teri, and I had worked on our defensible space after the inspection by the Okanogan Conservation District. We trimmed brush, pulled flammable materials away from the house and kept the lawn green. We worked hardest in the area closest to the buildings.” That work paid off. When the fire neared the area, a county sheriff’s deputy ordered area residents to evacuate. Despite all the wildfire preparation, Bevis said they were in shock at how quickly the fire engulfed their property. Flames came right up to the perimeter of the home site, where firefighters extinguished embers that ignited brush, a woodpile, dead grasses and a hollow log that was “burning like a roman candle,” according to one of the firefighters.
Photo courtesy of the Okanogan County Conservation District
Ken Bevis and Teri Pieper with axe and shovel in hand, dazed after the Rising Eagle fire.
Methow Valley News
