PORT LUDLOW — East Jefferson Fire Rescue has teamed up with the state Department of Natural Resources to offer free home fire assessments for Jefferson County residents.
Those who are interested can sign up at https://wildfireready.dnr.wa.gov.
The Wildfire Ready Neighbors (WRN) program is funded by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and implemented by local partners, in this case East Jefferson Fire Rescue (EJFR), the Mason County Conservation District and the Jefferson County Conservation District.
“The last three years, we’ve had wildfire incidents in eastern Jefferson County,” EJFR Chief Bret Black said. “Several of those resulted in evacuations and property loss. It’s important and incumbent on all of us to know those risks, know those events are happening, and to learn what resources are available.”
One such resource is the Jefferson County Community Wildfire Protection Plan, said county commissioner Heidi Eisenhour, who spoke at Wednesday’s event.
EJFR relies on reports from the National Interagency Fire Center to forecast the fire season, said EJFR Community Risk Manager Robert Wittenberg.
“Jefferson County is distinctly in the red for wildfire potential being well above average in July,” Black said. “That will be here before we know it.”
Wittenberg unpacked some of the precipitating conditions being seen this year and in previous seasons.
“We are seeing hotter, dryer temperatures,” he said. “We’re seeing winds that pick up. We’re seeing periods of time where we’re not getting a lot of rainfall. The snowpack in the Olympics right now is pretty low. We are potentially looking at severe risk of wildfire during the summer time.”
Black said while many in Jefferson County communities have not experienced major wildfires, it’s important to get ahead of the potential.
“There’s a lot of things that they can do to prepare themselves and their homes and their neighborhoods,” he said.
Wittenberg said the goal of WRN program is to assist homeowners in breaking the pattern of a wildfire becoming a structure fire.
Jesse Duvall, DNR’s community resilience coordinator, spoke at the event before he led a group around the outside of the fire department, exemplifying what would be considered in a home visit.
Assessments break down into three zones, 0 to 5 feet from a structure, 5 to 30 feet from a structure and 30 to 200 feet from a structure, Duvall said.
While each zone is considered in an assessment, Duvall said the first zone is the most critical.
“That immediate zone of 0 to 5 feet where we want to have as little combustible material as possible,” Wittenberg said. “That’s going to involve trimming vegetation, eliminating any leafy debris, wind-blown leaves, pine needles, those kinds of things. That includes at the base of the house as well as the top of the roof or in the gutters.”
Also important is reducing combustible storage that many people have around their house; items and projects that are in various degrees of progress, Wittenberg said.
“Those are all points where, if an airborne ember were to land on the property, it could ignite that material and it could translate to the house,” Wittenberg said. “Anything that can ignite and can also capture some of that leafy debris that gets blown around by the wind.”
Wildfire translating from the ground to the crowns of large trees is a major concern, Wittenberg said.
“That fire can actually climb up like the rungs of a ladder,” he said. “We want to eliminate what we call those ladder fuels. Those kinds of fires burn very hot, very fast. They can radiate enough heat to ignite a structure nearby.”
Wittenberg said limbing taller trees to 6 to 8 feet is recommended. Also, if there is shrubbery beneath large trees, Wittenberg said creating a space twice the height of the shrub, above the shrub, is recommended.
For example, if a shrub is 3 feet tall, a large tree’s limbs should be cut 6 feet above the shrub or 9 feet from the ground, Wittenberg explained.
The WRN program has been a huge success in Jefferson County so far, he said.
“Since the beginning of the year, we’ve had a tremendous response,” Wittenberg said.
Forty-five assessments have been completed, with an additional 89 waiting to be scheduled, Wittenberg said.
“There have been a number of households that have organized their neighbors,” he said. “Working together, all of the neighbors in a particular area have gotten these assessments. These neighbors are working together, recognizing that, in order for one house to survive, they need to work on all houses in a neighborhood.”
Gary Rygmyr of Port Ludlow has coordinated within his homeowners association (HOA). He said 26 homeowners expressed interest in the program and 18 houses have received the assessment.
Neighbors in the HOA have even formed a Firewise committee through the National Fire Protection Association. Structuring the committee has gained them access to a micro-grant from DNR.
Rygmyr said the HOA paid for two large trash recepticles last weekend, and they have already filled them up with limbs and combustible yard debris. The invoice will be submitted to DNR for reimbursement via the micro-grant, he said.
Mark Lannon of Kala Point said having his home assessed meant being able to insure his home after he lost his coverage.
“My wife and I got a notice from our insurance company,” Lannon said. “They said they were going to terminate us because of the wildfire risk.”
Lannon said his home is in a forest.
After receiving the assessment, Lannon said he was able to reach out to a number of insurance agencies with a newfound confidence in his ability to advocate for himself. Lannon received several quotes and is now insured, he said.
DNR spokesperson Jessa Lewis said she’s seen mitigation efforts payoff firsthand.
“One of these fires happened five minutes from my (Spokane) house,” she said. “I watched the treatment behave exactly as designed. This fire that could have been catastrophic was knocked down and put out because of these fuel-reduction treatments around the city of Spokane.”
Duvall said a study on the 2023 Oregon and Gray wildfires in Spokane County concluded the fuel mitigation efforts saved multiple homes, businesses and properties.
For those interested in learning more about resources for preparing for wildfire, Duvall recommended the DNR Wildfire Resilience Resource Library, which can be accessed at https://www.dnr.wa.gov/community-wildfire-resilience-resource-library.
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Reporter Elijah Sussman can be reached by email at elijah.sussman@sequimgazette.com.
