How to survive wildfire

Jinny Pitman describes steps to protect homes from wildfire.

The Sisters Ranger District hosted a discussion on August 31 in Camp Sherman about reducing wildfire risk to homes in Central Oregon.

Jinny Pitman, Sisters Ranger District Fire Prevention specialist, provided a small audience of local homeowners several tips on how to make their properties and residences better able to survive a wildfire.

Pittman emphasized that "we live in wildfire country, and wildfires are going to occur. If your home is adjacent to wildlands, whether forests, sagebrush, or grasslands, it is at risk."

Local homeowners learned how to lower their risk by focusing on a handful of steps around their homes. Some of the most important considerations are the materials used in building the house.

Wood roofs, decks and siding are highly flammable.

Pitman advised homeowners to consider more fire resistant materials, such as composite roof shingles when renovating the home.

She noted that it is also important to keep roofs, gutters and decks clean of flammable debris. Everyone in Central Oregon who lives near a pine tree knows that it only takes a few windstorms to clog your gutters with needles.

It only takes one "firebrand" or live ember, which can be blown several miles outside of a wildfire, to land in a pine needle-filled gutter to start a house fire.

It is recommended that homeowners also keep flammable vegetation (tall grass, shrubs, overhanging tree limbs) away from their house and deck.

Lastly, Pitman cautioned not to stack firewood against your house.

Pitman was asked if there was a good example of a home in the Metolius Basin that could survive a wildfire.

She responded that she had seen many more houses in the area that are at high risk -- because they had not followed precautionary steps -- than ones that have managed and lowered their risk.

However, Pitman said that she was available to help residents assess their homes survivability and discuss measures to remedy problems.

Local homeowners examined a fire severity map, locating their property adjacent to National Forest lands.

One homeowner looked on in concern when she found her property in the Metolius Meadows subdivision was next to several forest stands that are predicted to burn at the highest severity, due to dense stands of small trees and thickets of shrubs.

Homeowners asked what could be done on surrounding forest lands to help protect their homes.

Forest Service specialists discussed how fire risk and forest health will be addressed across the landscape in the Metolius Basin Project, and that there would be a focused zone of fuel reduction around residential and high use recreation areas and main roads within the project area.

This "defensible zone" would consist of corridors from 600 to 1,200 feet wide where forest fuels are reduced through thinning trees, mowing shrubs and burning.

For more information contact Jinny Pitman at 549-7644.