Ashland Fire & Rescue and the City of Ashland were awarded a $3 million Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant as a part of its Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grant Program. This grant aims to create wildfire defensible space around 1,100 homes throughout the city. The objective of the Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) program is to reduce overall risk to the population and structures from future hazard events as well as reduce reliance on federal funding from future disasters. Specifically, the purpose of this proposed PDM project is to slow the spread of wildfire within the City of Ashland and reduce the likelihood of wildfire impacts on people and property.
Ashland's setting, history of wildfires, and increasingly long, hot, and dry summers put us at high fire risk each year. In 2018, the entire City of Ashland was designated as a Wildfire Hazard Zone.
Ornamental conifers such as Arborvitae, juniper varieties, cypress varieties, and a few others are extremely flammable trees and shrubs. They contain volatile oils and waxes in their foliage and accumulate dead materials within the plant. Many firefighters refer to these plants as “little green gas cans” that can be easily ignited from burning embers or direct flame contact. When they burn, they generate enough heat to ignite nearby vegetation and your home. Some native southwest Oregon plants such as manzanita, wedge leaf ceanothus, buckbrush and a few others, also fall into this highly flammable plant category. There are many landscaping alternatives to these little green gas cans to use near your home. Combinations of low-growing deciduous shrubs, herbaceous flowers, and ground cover plants are far less likely to generate enough heat to ignite your home or surrounding vegetation.
More information on fire resistant landscapes can be found here: Fire Resistant Plants
The highest risk properties have already been identified through a 2018 curbside wildfire risk assessment of every home in the City of Ashland. Residents eligible to participate will be contacted by the Fire Department via a notification letter and should not contact the fire department to ask if they are eligible.
Defensible space treatments include removing dead vegetation, cutting trees and shrubs, pruning branches to remove ladder fuels that allow fires to climb up into trees, and cleanup of bark mulch, leaves, and needles from the ground. Work would be done within approximately 100 feet of each participating structure. This work may be completed by a contractor of your choosing or through your own labor.
The following activities are ineligible for reimbursement:
Removal of deciduous trees or any living tree over 12” in diameter
Replacement plants or landscaping
Purchase or use of irrigation systems
Burning of any kind
Mowing or gutter cleaning
The FEMA PDM Grant program funds 75 percent of the cost of the proposed action and the remaining 25 percent of costs would come from homeowner contributions. Each eligible property can receive up to a maximum of $2,150.00 in reimbursement costs. Work can be completed by a contractor of your choosing or through your own labor.
If some property owners in the “highest fire risk” group don’t participate in the program, then property owners in the “high fire risk” and “moderate risk” categories will be approached as funding becomes available.
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