What Is Firewise Madera County?
Firewise Madera County (FMC) is an education and outreach program to protect lives and property from wildfire through education. The program provides residents with the knowledge they need to take responsibility and take action to protect themselves.
FMC is the local Madera County effort to promote the Firewise Communities USA program of the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA).
Through FMC, the Board of Supervisors is actively participating in Firewise Communities, in collaboration with NFPA Firewise, CAL FIRE, USFS, the Eastern Madera County Fire Safe Council, and various other agencies.
Roger Maybee is FMC Coordinator disseminating information via this web site, personal presentations, town hall meetings, multimedia, press releases, literature, mailings, local advertising and more, to educate and facilitate residents taking action. To contact Roger call (559) 760-7407 or email rpmaybee@sti.net
The NFPA Firewise Communities USA education and preparedness program, and their national community recognition program, has been educating and facilitating fire wise activities since 1986.
Madera County CWPP
The Firewise program dovetails perfectly with the county’s stated goals in their wildfire protection plan.
Firewise Madera County will assist with ongoing education, implementation, and plan refinement of the Madera County Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP).
The Madera County CWPP was formally approved in 2008.
Firewise Communities USA
Firewise Madera County is part of the Firewise Communities USA program with a stated purpose of:
The National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) Firewise Communities program encourages local solutions for wildfire safety by involving homeowners, community leaders, planners, developers, firefighters, and others in the effort to protect people and property from the risk of wildfire.”
The Firewise Communities program was established by the NFPA to bring greater awareness to property owners in high fire danger areas as to what they can DO to help become wise regarding fire. Firewise mitigation activities include:
- Hardening your home against wildfire
- Thinning/pruning/tree removal/brush clearing on private property in the home ignition zone.
- Managing private forest lands
- Organizing a community slash pickup or chipping day
- Creating or improving roads for better access/egress
- Improving the water supply for firefighting
- Educating the public through sponsored activities or events throughout the community
- And More
To save lives and property from wildfire, NFPA’s Firewise Communities program teaches people how to adapt to living with wildfire and encourages neighbors to work together and take action now to prevent losses.”
Click Here for the Very Interesting History of the Firewise NFPA Program
While there are many legitimate and important factors in fire danger that need to be addressed and mitigated, being fire wise truly starts at home.
YOU must take action to be fire wise.
You are the only one authorized to harden your home. Your action to harden your home is the only way to prevent future catastrophic loss of structures to wildfire. With Firewise Madera County, you are not alone.
Teaching at risk residents to be educated, proactive and taking real action to protect their lives and homes is Firewise Madera County’s goal.
Part of that goal involves being here to help you every step of the way as a resource, for home and structure assessments, and for ongoing facilitation and follow up.
To read more about the Firewise Communities program and its focus on teaching collaborative personal responsibility for home ignition zones in high fire danger areas click here.