Wildfire Wednesdays #42: Wildfire Wednesdays Live - Home Hardening Basics

Hi Fireshed Members,

February is a great time to show your home some love. Take some time to identify vulnerable areas that need to be addressed before a wildfire appears. And remember, while you may not see the flames, wind can carry hot embers from burning vegetation or other materials at least a mile or more away from an active wildfire.

This Wildfire Wednesday features:

• Wildfire Wednesday live TONIGHT at 6pm: Fire, Wildlife, and the Mexican Spotted Owl.

• Start from the top – work down and out: Home Hardening Basics

Best,

Gabe

Wildfire Wednesday Live Tonight at 6pm: Fire, Wildlife, and the Mexican Spotted Owl

Join us Tonight, Wednesday the 17th at 6pm on the Fireshed Facebook page for the next live event with Dr. Gavin Jones, Research Ecologist for the USDA Forest Service.

 Megafires are becoming the new normal. How is wildlife responding? How can we better conserve them? Join us for the next Wildfire Wednesday Live event to learn more and chat with Dr. Gavin Jones, research ecologist for the USDA Forest Service.

Dr. Gavin will discuss his research related to fire and wildlife, with a focus on the California and Mexican spotted owl.

Come for the speaker, stay for the interactive Q&A in the chat!

Start from the Top – Work Down and Out: Roofs, Attics, Vents, Skylights, Eaves, etc.

Start with the top of the structure, work down to the ground, and then work out from there. Click on the links to access specific factsheets from the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) as well as other reputable sources.

Roofs and Skylights

• Check your roof. Houses with wood shake or shingle roofs are more likely to be destroyed during a wildfire. If possible, consider installing fire-resistant roofing material, such as asphalt composition shingles, metal, concrete or clay tile. A damaged roof with missing shingles and plastic skylights can also give hot embers from a wildfire an easy entry point. Maintain flat roofs, ensuring no cracks or exposed sublayers exist.

• Clear your rain gutters, flat roofs, and valleys in pitched roofs. Remove pine needles, leaves, or other materials that may have accumulated over the winter. Embers can easily ignite in dried out debris.

Attics and Vents:

• Check your vents. Consider changing out standard ¼-inch mesh with 1/8-inch metal wire mesh (if building codes and required air flow allow) to prevent wildfire embers from penetrating attics, eaves, and crawl spaces. Keep vents clear from debris and do not plant shrubs underneath or in front of vents.

Eaves and Walls:

• What about walls? Replace exterior wall coverings that are combustible, susceptible to melting, or can readily transmit heat with noncombustible or fire-resistant materials.

• Windows can be a weak point. Dual-paned windows with tempered glass will resist greater fire intensities than single pane windows.

Decks:

• Clean your deck. Remove debris from under your deck and from the gaps between deck boards. Replace wooden lattice with properly vented solid skirting or with 1/8-inch wire mesh to keep embers out.

Landscaping:

• Don't store firewood, gas cans, lawn mowers, cardboard or other combustible materials next to your home. Move these items at least 5-feet away from the outside walls of the house.

• Landscaping could light up your home. Think about replacing flammable plants with fire resistant species and replace wood chips with decorative rock for ground cover.

Wildfire Wednesdays #41: CWPP 2.0 - Talking to kids about wildfire

Hi Fireshed Members,

The month of February, and into the early spring, is a great time to make some incremental progress on wildfire preparedness BEFORE wildfire season. We're still at the big picture here. Taking simple steps like increasing your knowledge and awareness and making a plan for your family, animals, structure, and property are a great way to get started on the right foot.

This week’s Wildfire Wednesday includes:

• Wildfire Wednesdays Live is back February 17th (details)

• CWPP 2.0: The Next Generation of Community Wildfire Protection Plans

• A toolkit for talking to kids about wildfire

Best,

Gabe

CWPP 2.0: The Next Generation of Community Wildfire Protection Plans

For a crash course on CWPPs, see last week’s blog post.

CWPPs have become a key tool for communities seeking to plan for wildfire. However, as time has passed, communities across the country have wrestled with implementation, plan updates, effective communication, engagement strategies and more. In May of 2020, FAC Net convened participants across the country in a CWPP-focused learning group to help connect practitioners to each other and current research. Known as CWPP 2.0, this learning group met monthly from May until December 2020.

For a summary of the themes and takeaways from the CWPP 2.0 learning group, click here.

Talking to your Kids about Wildfire

To help prepare for wildfire while we are indoors due to winter temperatures and covid-19 social distancing guidelines, the Tahoe Network of Fire Adapted Communities created an excellent series of weekly tips.  

Preparing for wildfire is a crucial part of living in New Mexico. Given the importance of planning for the whole family, children should not be left out of preparedness conversations. While your kids are home, you can use this time to talk about wildfire science and introduce fun, fire-related curriculum.

General Tips

• Start the conversation with a video or activity to get your child's attention.

• Ask your child what they already know about wildfire.

• Be prepared to repeat information; wildfire can be difficult to understand.

To read the full blog post, complete with videos and activities, click here.

Save the Date for the next Wildfire Wednesday Live! 2/17/21 6pm on Facebook

Photo: Sheila Whitmore

Join us on Wednesday the 17th at 6pm on the Fireshed Facebook page for the next live event with Dr. Gavin Jones, Research Ecologist for the USDA Forest Service.

Megafires are becoming the new normal. How are wildlife responding? And how can we better conserve them? In this Wildfire Wednesday Live event, Dr. Gavin Jones of the US Forest Service will discuss his research related to fire and wildlife, with a focus on the California and Mexican spotted owl.

Wildfire Wednesdays #40: CWPPs - Before, During, and After Wildfire - Wildfire Preparedness for those in Need

Hi Fireshed Members,  

Wildfire preparedness is year-round. This process involves taking actions to better prepare for, respond to, and recover from wildfire. As we head into spring, it is a great time to take actions to prepare for wildfire.  

This week’s Wildfire Wednesdays includes: 

• Information about Community Wildfire Protection Planning (CWPP) 

• A facilitation guide for Before, During, and After Wildfire from Washington Fire Adapted Communities 

• A partnership between Habitat for Humanity and FACNM to provide wildfire preparedness assistance to those in need.

Best,  

Gabe 

Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPPs) 

As you may know, Santa Fe County just updated its CWPP.

To view the new plan, click here.

To view the interactive map, click here.

…but what is a CWPP, and why do they matter?

A Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) is a written plan describing wildfire hazards and mitigation measures for a community. In New Mexico, many CWPPs focus at the county scale, but there sometimes individual community CWPPs within the county plan. These plans are authorized and defined in Title 1 of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act and are an important pre-requisite for numerous wildfire risk reduction funding programs.  

The purpose of a CWPP is to “reduce wildfire risk to communities, municipal water supplies, and other at-risk land through a collaborative process of planning, prioritizing, and implementing hazardous fuels reduction projects.” The CWPP process is ongoing and core teams that write these plans continually work together to update them and to achieve the tasks outlined in the plan.  

Key Points about CWPPs 

• All community members concerned about wildfire threat are encouraged to participate in the CWPP process.  

• There is no prescribed format to which a CWPP must conform, and plans vary depending on the objectives and desires of the community.  

• CWPPs should effectively address local forest and range conditions, values-at-risk, and priorities for actions 

Benefits of a CWPP 

• Increasing community capacity by working collaboratively and strengthening relationships 

• Helps establish and define boundaries for the wildland-urban interface, used to identify areas where federal funds may be applied.  

• Fuel-reduction projects that are identified in a CWPP are to receive priority for funding and implementation by federal agencies 

To view a complete list of CWPPs across New Mexico, click here.

Before, During, and After the Wildfire  

Fire adapted communities, like many of the communities in The Fireshed, understand their risk and are taking action to better prepare for, respond to, and recover from wildfire.  

This facilitation guide, created by the Washington Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network, is a helpful tool to walk yourself and others in your community identify areas where you may improve your wildfire preparedness. Although it is a difficult time to meet in-person, this facilitation guide may be a conversation starter with your neighbors about how you can work together on wildfire preparedness in the warmer months.  

To view the facilitation guide, click here.  

FACNM and Habitat for Humanity Provide Wildfire Preparedness Assistance to those in Need 

Our statewide Fire Adapted Communities New Mexico (FACNM) learning network is partnering with Habitat for Humanity (H4H) of Los Alamos and Espanola Valley to provide wildfire preparedness assistance to those in need. FACNM will assist H4H volunteers and program coordinators by providing a Home Ignition Zone training and printed materials to be shared through H4H’s A Brush with Kindness program.  

The A Brush with Kindness program is an exterior home preservation service that offers painting, landscaping, and exterior minor repair services for home owners in need. This partnership will add to this program’s existing services by providing information and resources for reducing the risk of ember ignitions to participating homes.  

If you would like to learn more about this partnership or support this partnership through volunteer capacity, please contact gabe@forestguild.org.  

Glorieta pile burns in the Fireshed

Taking advantage of recent moisture while closely monitoring smoke to limit impacts, the All Hands All Lands Burn Team continues pile burning at Glorieta Adventure Camps this week (1/26 – 29) after completing 19 acres last week and another 11 this week, bringing the total to 30 of the planned 55 acres completed. In addition to ignitions, the All Hands All Lands Burn Team has crews on site monitoring, patrolling, and mopping up the piles. When conditions permit, the Pile Burn Squad will continue burn operations.

Eytan Krasilovsky on behalf of Coalition partner, Forest Stewards Guild was interviewed yesterday on KRQE News 13 about current prescribed burn activity.

Check out the recent news articles about burn activities:

Fire prevention efforts underway ahead of New Mexico's wildfire season

Dry conditions throughout New Mexico could set up for busy fire season