Fire prevention really begins at home

Well, we survived another fire season, mostly through timely rains and the efforts of our county firefighters.  

We really haven’t had a severe fire season in Lincoln County since 2000, when fires burned more than 45,000 acres. Did you know that the Headwaters Economic Group in Bozeman rated Lincoln County as having the second highest fire-risk in Montana based on the number of homes and acres in the Wildland Urban Interface?  How much longer can our good luck hold?  

Every summer I cringe when I think about how a wildfire might affect Lincoln County. One fire in the Flower Creek Municipal Watershed could produce enough ash to shut down Libby’s water system. The 2007 Parmenter Fire had the potential to wreak havoc in Libby, but thanks to favorable winds and an intensive firefighting attack, the fire was suppressed with little damage.  How often can we count on having firefighting crews, retardant planes and water dropping helicopters available? During a bad fire season fire crews may not be available or if we have high winds, retardant planes and helicopters may not be able to fly or even be available.

So, what can we do?  Well, we have already done a lot in the past 10 years. The Forest Service and Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservatoin have treated the fuels in critical areas around the county. These treated areas give firefighters a real advantage in stopping an oncoming fire.  

Many properties in the county have been treated with cost-share grant funding. The Lincoln County FireSafe Council is constantly looking at ideas to help reduce our fire danger. The Lincoln County Community Wildfire Protection Plan has been recently updated.  Libby, Em Kayan Village and Chain of Lakes are recognized as FireWise Communities.

Is all of this enough?  No, when you look at the amount of vegetation in our county and all of the homes spread out across the landscape it is apparent that we are at grave risk.   

I am fairly comfortable with the efforts of the Forest Service and DNRC to continue to reduce the risks on their lands within the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI), although still more remains to be done.

However, it is the private ownership that I worry about. Our residents need to take more responsibility for reducing their fire hazard.  Do we really think that firefighters are going to be able to save a home if the owner has not already done preventive work around their home?  

The Libby Rural Fire Department is one of the best, but I would doubt that it has the capacity to handle more than a couple of houses during a major fire. Besides, we don’t believe that firefighters should be putting their lives on the line to save property where the landowner didn’t create a safe environment in the first place.

First, homeowners must take care of the little things around their homes like that stack of firewood next to the house or needles in the gutters, because sparks are going to be the big problem in the advance of the wildfire. Next they need to reduce the fuels near their house.  

There are lots of guides to help them with their efforts including fuel reduction grants that may pay 50 percent to 75 percent of the cost of the work.  All of this information is available online at www.lcfiresafe.org or call 293-2847 for more information.  

Now is the time to start thinking about what the 2014 fire season might bring and to do something to prepare for it.

(Ed Levert is the Lincoln County Forester.)