Tips To Prevent Another Firestorm

Wed., June 12, 1996

By Kim Barker kimb@spokesman.com

A new summer wildfire prevention campaign aims to give firefighters some room to breathe.

Washington’s “Firestorm: Five Years After” campaign hopes to prevent the devastation caused by the firestorm of 1991. A series of 92 wildfires, mostly in Spokane County, burned 35,000 acres, destroyed 114 homes and killed a woman and an unborn child. Damages were estimated at $15 million.

Prevention advice ranges from sweeping pine needles off a home’s roof to trimming groves of trees.

“This stuff applies to people in subdivisions as well as people with hundreds of acres,” said Guy Gifford, a forester with the Washington state Department of Natural Resources.

The program, kicked off Tuesday morning, will distribute 20,000 free “Backyard Forest Stewardship” booklets that lay out more than a dozen steps landowners can take to improve forest health and reduce the risk of fire.

DNR representatives also will inspect homes to show landowners how to reduce fire risk.

The campaign will end in October, five years after the Oct. 16, 1991, start of Firestorm ‘91.

For more information, call the northeast region of the DNR office in Colville at 1-800-527-3305, extension 116.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: PREVENTING FIRES The state Department of Natural Resources offers these tips to reduce a property’s fire risk: Trim your yard up to 300 feet away from your home. Firefighters need space to fight fires. Rake pine needles off the roof and out of the yard. Replace shakes with a tile, composite or metal roof. Prune and thin trees to reduce the chance of fire spreading. Stack firewood away from your home. Make sure your address is visible, especially at night.

This sidebar appeared with the story: PREVENTING FIRES The state Department of Natural Resources offers these tips to reduce a property’s fire risk: Trim your yard up to 300 feet away from your home. Firefighters need space to fight fires. Rake pine needles off the roof and out of the yard. Replace shakes with a tile, composite or metal roof. Prune and thin trees to reduce the chance of fire spreading. Stack firewood away from your home. Make sure your address is visible, especially at night.

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