Wising Up on Wildfire Protection; Residents Sought To Join ‘Firewise’
By Matt Gomez
Albuquerque Journal (New Mexico)
Copyright 2006 Albuquerque Journal
Ken Till of Sandia Park wants East Mountains communities to get “Firewise.”
Firewise is a national program “involving homeowners, community leaders, planners, developers and others in the effort to protect people, property and natural resources from the risk of wildland fire - before a fire starts,” the Firewise Web site states.
Till wants to see if East Mountains residents and neighborhood associations would be interested in forming several Firewise communities. The Firewise groups would operate on an individual neighborhood level, each with its own guidelines, committees and fire prevention and mitigation efforts, Till said.
“The Firewise communities run their own shop, it’s a community-driven program where they manage their grants, they manage their progress reports, they manage reporting to the national office ...,” Till said. “This is not a federal or a state or a county effort, it’s a community effort ...”
Till said the Firewise communities would differ from groups like the East Mountain Interagency Fire Protection Association in that they would be formed of community residents and homeowners as opposed to agencies. This would mean the groups could focus their efforts on individual needs, Till said. That doesn’t mean Till isn’t looking for support from EMIFPA, though. Till, who said he sits on EMIFPA’s board, would like to see a collaborative effort between Firewise communities and EMIFPA to work to reduce the threat of wildfires.
“I would like to see at least an East Mountain Firewise board, comprised of at least several communities, sit on EMIFPA,” Till said. “They would act as a liaison to the Firewise effort in the East Mountains.”
Working with a group like EMIFPA could mean a sharing of resources and information, Till said. Deb Stefan of EMIFPA said the organization has received Till’s proposal.
“I actually think it’s very appropriate because EMIFPA has been around since 1990 and there’s quite a few agencies involved in EMIFPA, so I think for us to be able to support them would be great,” Stefan said. “I also think it’s kind of nice that it’s a group of private citizens that are trying to start this which, ultimately, I think it’s the private homeowners’ responsibility to get involved in education and information dissemination and actually doing things for their subdivision in terms of trying to make it safer for a wildfire.”
Stefan said EMIFPA will look at Till’s proposal during its Sept. 9 meeting. Both Till and Stefan said the Firewise proposal is timely because the East Mountains Community Wildfire Protection Plan is in its final draft stages and should be completed soon. The CWPP is a document that describes current and previous environmental conditions in the East Mountains and recommends wildfire fuel-reduction treatments, among other things.
Till moved to New Mexico from Washington about eight months ago and has gotten involved with several wildfire protection organizations and activities, he said. He is a member of EMIFPA, a core member for the CWPP and has developed a Wildland Fire Protection Committee for Paa-Ko, he said. Till is a retired regional fire management officer with the National Park Service and has 35 years of firemanagement experience, he said.
Residents who would like to comment on Till’s idea can contact him via e-mail, by phone at 286-0977 or can send written comments to 11 Canyon Ridge Drive, Sandia Park, NM 87047.