   New Arizona FireWise Publications - September 25, 2002 Jeff Schalau, County Director, Agent, Agriculture & Natural Resources Arizona Cooperative Extension, Yavapai County Halleluiah, it's rained and plants everywhere have greened up. Between September 5 and September 11, we received about 4.5 inches in the Verde Valley (Camp Verde Data). I am often interested in recent precipitation data and will pass along a good web-based source. It is The Camp Verde Weather Site at www.verde.org/climate/. It had current weather conditions and daily summaries by month. This has nothing to do with FireWise landscaping, but I had to express my joy before I got to the real topic. Actually, while Northern Arizona was receiving all that rain, I was attending a meeting in Show Low that included some information on the Rodeo-Chediski fire and a site visit to the community of Pinedale (east of Show Low). The group looked at a neighborhood where several homes had been lost. Many of the homes that were saved had created defensible space and applied FireWise landscape and construction principles. Two homes that we viewed did not. Needless to say, these homes were total losses. Most of the homes lost were also underinsured. The Show Low Fire Chief and Cooperative Extension Agent Steve Campbell also produced a short video. It showed where the fire came out of the crowns and went to ground because of defensible space. Here, homes were saved. Its human nature to forget negative experiences and that's not all bad. I just hope that folks living in the wildland urban interface do not forget the fire season of 2002. It has taught us many lessons. This fire season also inspired the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension to create four new publications to assist people in making their home and property safer in the case of catastrophic wildfire. Below, I will provide a brief description of each publication. Fire-Resistant Landscaping discusses the variety of plant types, their growth forms and functions within a landscape, landscape maintenance, and materials to increase fire resistance of your home. Creating Wildfire-Defensible Spaces for Your Home and Property discusses how to create defensible space zones around your home and property, what each zone should look like, an annual checklist of risk factors, and a guide to maintaining defensible space over time. FIREWISE Plant Materials for 3,000 ft. and Higher Elevations covers how FireWise plants are selected, and then lists 32 tree, 15 grass, and 31 shrub species that are considered FireWise. There is also information about FireWise landscape design and maintenance. Homeowners' "Inside and Out" Wildfire Checklist is a comprehensive list to help assess your home and property risk factors. The checklist is broken down by interior (by room) and exterior risk factors (roof, construction, landscape, water, access, and more). The checklist also includes disaster preparedness. These four publications will help you prepare for wildfire. They are available on-line or by request from the Yavapai County Cooperative Extension offices in Cottonwood and Prescott. If you visit the Backyard Gardener web site (see address below), each publication is hot linked to the publication. More Arizona FireWise publications are currently being developed and a statewide Extension Agent position is currently being filled. As stated above, it is easy to forget or discount your potential wildfire risk, but we should remember the fire season of 2002. In our ecosystems, the question is when, not if, a wildfire will strike a particular area. Read these publications, assess your property, and start working to become FireWise. The University of Arizona Cooperative Extension has publications and information on gardening and pest control. If you have other gardening questions, call the Master Gardener line in the Cottonwood office at 646-9113 or E-mail us at mgardener@verdeonline.com and be sure to include your address and phone number. Find past Backyard Gardener columns or submit column ideas at the Backyard Gardener web site: http://ag.arizona.edu/yavapai/anr/hort/byg/. |