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Recent wildland fires have ravaged communities in Socorro and Valencia counties, prompting Firewise Coordinator Heather Donaldson to get the word out that the USA Firewise Program is here to help homeowners.
Donaldson said that there is a misconception that homeowners may get citations or negative feedback from Firewise inspections, but the truth is far from there.
“The goal isn’t to fine anybody or say that you’re not allowed to have this or that on your property. It’s your property. You’re allowed to have what you want,” she said.
“This is about building a stronger, safer community. We’re not just trying to protect structures. We’re trying to protect people.”
Because of minimal manpower and equipment, Donaldson said when firefighters are on a street that’s one way in, one way out, and a fire is moving fast, they have to make a 30-second judgment call of whether or not a house is defensible.
During an inspection Donaldson or another Firewise inspector does a walk through of the property with the owner and makes suggestions. For instance, she said some people don’t realize that wildfires can jump from tree to tree so it’s important to trim trees away from roofs and take down dead branches that ignite faster than live ones.
She will also show homeowners where and how to create defense barriers around their home.
Overgrowth, blocked driveways, clutter and debris are also large areas of concern during inspections. Donaldson said some residents may be elderly or disabled and don’t have the ability to make their homes more defensible. In these cases, she is able to connect them with resources, such as the dump.
“There are so many people who need help and don’t know where to go to ask,” she said.
Homeowners Ruth and Dave Bidwell of San Antonio recently invited Firewise to evaluate their property after attending a wildfire evacuation preparedness meeting at the San Antonio Fire Station.
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“We just wanted to get more ideas on how to protect ourselves from possible fires,” Ruth said. Ruth and her husband, who are both senior citizens, moved into their home on Bosquecito Road three years ago and have invested a lot of time and resources into making it their dream home.
Like many rural New Mexico residents, she’s increasingly aware of the wildfire threat in what’s known as the “urban wildland interface”—areas where human development meets wildland vegetation.
While there is wildland that comes up to the fence behind and to the south of the Bidwells’ property, Donaldson said they are on the right track and she can get in touch with the right agencies to trim back vegetation that isn’t on private land.
“This would be one of the properties that we would deem defensible, because we can get in here. It’s very open here, and where they even have brush at the edge, we could get in here and knock that down very, very quickly, compared to a home that has overgrowth in the yard, a lot of debris ion the ground and stuff like that. So we would post people and equipment up here to help protect this property,” Donaldson said.
She is hopes people interested in volunteering will give her a call to assist homeowners that need extra help making their property fire safe. She envisions volunteers who are willing to spend one afternoon a month helping neighbors in need with yard work or light repairs.
Homeowners can call Donaldson at 575-517-9043 to set up a Firewise inspection.
