Friday, March 29, 2024

Wildfire town hall presents the community with an array of prevention, protection resources

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CHELAN – In an effort to prevent and protect the City of Chelan from wildfire, a town hall meeting was held on March 7 at the Chelan Senior Center.

“We think of fire season a constant threat to our town, tonight’s meeting is about looking forward at what we can do in our neighborhoods that would make a difference when the lighting strikes and its 90 degrees out,” said Chelan Mayor Mike Cooney as he began the town hall meeting.

Chelan Fire and Rescue works hard every year to improve its abilities with DNR and the U.S. Forest Service said Chief Tim Lemon. The partner agencies have a philosophy. “That the closest available agency engages, let’s get there and it done, keep it small, manageable and get it out,” he mentioned.

Chief Lemon clarified that at the moment CFR’s goal is to continue to build on what they have learned over the years. CFR wants to make sure people’s homes have a “defensible space” by providing vegetation around them that is fire resistant “that way if there’s an event that comes down to your neighborhood, that will buy us time until we get there and take care of it.”

Lemon encouraged everyone to contact CFR and him personally in order to schedule an appointment to get their homes evaluated. “The fire guys will come out and will do walk through your property identify those risk factors that you may want to consider, it goes hand-in-hand with the fire wise program we support,” said Lemon.

District Ranger Kari Grover-Weir of the Okanogan-Wenatchee Forest Service was excited to see many residents show up to the meeting wanting to do their part. Grover-Weir elaborated on the work DNR, the Forest Service and local fire departments do. “We train together, we do practices, we make sure we have the right radio frequencies, that we know each other’s faces for when we show up on a fire that everyone knows each other.”

Outside of the city limits, the Forest Service is working thinning trees and prescribed burning. “In the last couple of years we have been working on the Bear Mountain area, Forest Mountain, 25 Mile and we are starting to work up in First Creek, also in the Falls and Coyote area,” she said. In the 25 Mile area and First Creek area, private property owners are encouraged to get their land treated if their land is adjacent to U.S. Forest land. Grover-Weir mentioned that the Forest Service will do this for free, all they have to do is contact them.

City of Chelan Planning Director Craig Gildroy presented on what the city is doing in regards to wildfire planning through the years. After the 2015 wildfires, the community requested the city to implement wildfire regulations and from there the city jumped on the Community Planning Assistance for Wildfire (CPAW).

CPAW then had some recommendations for the City of Chelan, which the planning and building department has checked off over the last two years as they have worked on codes that apply for the most part to new developments.

Project Coordinator at Cascadia Conservation District Patrick Haggerty went over a few resources that Cascadia puts together. One of them being the free brush disposal days at the Chelan Transfer Station. This year Cascadia will be accepting trees and brush up to 12 inches in diameter and 8-feetlong, as well as pine needles and shrubs on May 3, 4, 10 and 11. He also talked about the free-roving chipper program available in the county and the city. “You thin some trees, prune trees and cut bush around your property and then we hire a contractor crew to come out and chip that material,” he said. For the chipper program, one must sign up on the Cascadia Conservation District website. Other programs such as the firewise community USA program, cost-share assistance for forest landowners and the post-fire assessment program are also provided by Cascadia. (visit www.cascadiacd.org to learn more)

Executive Director Carlene Anders of the Disaster Leadership Team and Okanogan County Long Term Recovery Group invited all to the Fire Strong Workshop which is a call to action to become fire resilient. On Tuesday, March 19 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. the workshop will take place at the Pateros School Gym. The same thing happens again on Wednesday, March 20 at Campbell’s Resort in Chelan.

The next town hall is scheduled for June. If you have a topic you would like discussed email Mayor Mike Cooney at MCooney@cityofchelan.us or call Chelan City Hall at 682-4037.

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