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About Applegater. (Jacksonville, OR) 2008-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 2012)
Applegater Winter 2012 11 Are you ember aware yet? BY SANDY SHAFFER Free BE EMBER AWARE Brochures They may be small, but they are lethal! Embers such as these (top photo) during a wildfire are overwhelmingly the main reason that homes burn. Your home, my home, any home can be vulnerable to embers, but some simple tips and safe building materials can help save your home. You’ve heard this before, but take a look at the pictures on the right. Here’s a brick house in Texas (center photo) that had a metal roof and a very clean (and recently inspected) defensible space. But it burned in 2005. Why? Embers collected in and ignited a fiber doormat, which then burned through the wooden door at the back of the house. A metal or other nonflammable mat might have saved this house. And what about this neighborhood in southern California? Why did only one home (bottom photo, in upper right) survive this wildfire in 2000? Correct—embers couldn’t get inside to ignite it… So, get your free copy of BE EMBER AWARE today and start preparing your home for next summer’s fire season. Stop by any Applegate Valley Fire District neighborhood kiosk to pick one up, or drop in to Headquarters on Upper Applegate Road in Ruch for your free copy. Sandy Shaffer for Applegate Valley Fire District #9 ATTENTION APPLEGATE LANDOWNERS Grant funding has just become available to assist landowners in thinning fuels on rural properties! This could be the last chance to obtain financial help in doing hazardous fuels thinning. Funds are limited, so call today! Requirements: 1. Multiple acres need to be treated by the landowner, preferably 5 acres or more. 2. The Fire District will assist landowners in defining the treatments, to meet minimum standards. 3. Landowners will be reimbursed up to $400 per acre treated. 4. The particular area being treated cannot have received grant fund assistance to be thinned in the past (however, the property owner could have received assistance to thin other parts of their property in the past). 5. The work must be completed no later than November 30, 2012. Suggestions: 6. It is preferred that several adjacent neighbors plan together to thin their properties at the same time, so that a larger contiguous fuel break area is realized. 7. Thinning your property that is adjacent to federal lands also helps create larger fuel breaks. 8. Thinning along a long shared driveway is a good way to meet these requirements and also provide safe egress/access for all. 9. The Fire District can assist landowners in having the thinning completed by utilizing County Justice crews, or the landowner can do the work themselves and be reimbursed, or contract the work out to be done by others. For more information: Call Chief Brett Fillis at Applegate Fire District today: 541-899-1050. JOB OPPORTUNITY The Applegater newspaper needs an advertising salesperson for Josephine County. Contact J.D. Rogers, Editor 541-846-7736 or gater@applegater.org
