For Immediate Release: May 14, 2004

Conservation Groups Release Primer to Help Homeowners and Communities Protect Themselves from Wildfire

Primer presents proven methods based on Forest Service research

Contact: Matthew Koehler, Native Forest Network: 406-542-7343

Missoula, MT - Conservation groups are helping to educate homeowners and communities in four western states to better protect themselves from wildfire by inserting a primer into seven newspapers on Friday, May 14. The papers include The Bend Bulletin (OR), The La Grande Observer (OR), The Santa Fe New Mexican (NM), The Arizona Daily Sun (AZ), The Tucson Citizen (AZ) and The Durango Herald (CO). The primer outlines steps that Forest Service research has shown homeowners and communities should take to prepare for wildfire. It is being distributed in four western states.

"Wildfire protection truly does begin at home," said Matthew Koehler of the Missoula-based Native Forest Network, the organization that produced the wildfire primer. "By removing the flammable vegetation around the houses and their immediate surroundings homeowners can greatly reduce the chances of their home burning down even during extreme wildfire conditions."

Due to high temperatures and continuing drought conditions in many western states fire risks are high this year. Thousands of homes are located in areas where wildfires may occur, and it is more important than ever that the federal government help homeowners take the proven steps necessary to protect their homes. Unfortunately, instead of offering a fire policy that makes protecting the American people the top priority, the Bush administration has actually proposed to cut funding for programs that help states and local communities prepare for fire, while at the same time offering increased subsidies for logging to timber companies.

For example, the administration's FY 2005 budget proposal cuts funding for community protection assistance to States and private landowners by 42%. The number of communities helped by the State Fire Assistance program would drop from 2,100 to 1,100 due to a $33 million reduction in proposed funding. The Economic Action Program, which provides support including fire assistance to 540 communities this year, is proposed for elimination.

"It's a real shame that the Bush administration actually wants to cut programs that help states and local community prepare for fire," said Joe Fox, a former smokejumper for the Forest Service. "The priorities seem to be upside down - we need more focus near the homes and less out in the backcountry."

The Bush administration has adopted policies to increase logging on National Forest lands far away from inhabited areas. The primer points out that there is no conclusive scientific evidence that these activities can reduce fire risk. In fact, such activities can increase fire risk. Instead, fire scientists and researchers have found that by taking simple actions immediately around homes and communities - not out in remote forests -- we can save homes.

A recent Los Angeles Times analysis of over 2,300 structures burned in last fall's fires found that nearby vegetation was the largest single factor in whether a house burned. Almost nine of 10 houses burned had flammable vegetation within 30 feet, and 2/3 had flammable vegetation within 10 feet, according to county field inspections of houses where the vegetation line before the fire could be determined.

The U.S. Forest Service has conducted studies that come to a similar conclusion. The Fire Sciences Lab in Missoula, Montana, has demonstrated that to reduce fire risks in the urban/wildland interface zone, removing fuels from within 40 meters of a structure and reducing the flammability of the structures are more effective and efficient than landscape wide thinning.

According to the study: "The evidence suggests that wildland fuel reduction for reducing home losses may be inefficient and ineffective. Inefficient because wildland fuel reduction for several hundred meters or more is greater than necessary for reducing ignitions from flames. Ineffective because it does not sufficiently reduce firebrand ignitions."

The Fire Primer was created by the Native Forest Network and The Lands Council, and the Fire Primer Education Project is being supported by other conservation organizations including: National Forest Protection Alliance, Friends of the Bitterroot, The Ecology Center, Friends of the Clearwater, American Lands Alliance, The Wilderness Society, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Earthjustice, National Environmental Trust, Defenders of Wildlife, Sierra Club, Alaska Rainforest Campaign, Center for Biological Diversity, Colorado Wild, Southwest Forest Alliance, Oregon Natural Resources Council, Hells Canyon Preservation Council, Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness, Northwest Old Growth Campaign and U.S. Public Interest Research Group.