Mesa Fire working with national program to help reduce risk of wildfire damage in communities

By Connor Van Ligten
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The Mesa Fire and Medical department is collaborating with a national wildfire safety program that helps reduce the risk of property damage from wildfires in local communities.

The program, called Firewise USA, was developed by the National Fire Protection Association and helps residents takes steps to reduce the risk of wildfire damage to their property. The program starts with an assessment of the member’s home and how well-protected it is against wildfire risk. One such place where Firewise USA operates is Las Sendas, an East Mesa community that borders the Tonto National Forest.

“They create a plan based on that assessment, which is looking at the condition of the homes and properties, generalities and trying to help that community find purpose and prioritize what they should work on,” Megan Fitzgerald-McGowan, Firewise USA program manager with the National Fire Protection Association, said. “It’s easy to get focused on looking out beyond the trees, instead of turning and looking at what’s under our control right here on our property,”

Mesa fire inspector, investigator and Firewise coordinator Tyson Matheny said the Mesa Fire and Medical Department works with NFPA and the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire management on these assessments.

“The first thing we do is an assessment of the entire community. Us and DFFM will come out together and do a full assessment and point to prioritization zones where they want to work on first,” Matheny said. “After that, we start at the home level. We go out and do an assessment with the community members who are interested in it.”

That assessment is all about ember-proofing a home, according to Matheny.

“What we want to do is teach them ways that they can prepare their home for that ember attack. Meaning, sealing up cracks and crevices, putting wire mesh on vents, moving patio furniture away from the house.” Matheny said. “Storing the patio furniture in the garage if they’re going to leave for the summer. We also want to teach them about not stacking their firewood up against their house.”

Shawn Alexander, Mesa fire division chief and fire marshal for the fire prevention division, spoke on the common reasons for why wildfires spread to properties. According to Alexander, terrain, weather and fuels that are in the area play an important factor. He also emphasized communities that are near a national forest are often at risk, as embers can travel far.

“As wildfires develop, they can send embers anywhere from 1 to 3 miles away from the fire based on wind conditions,” Alexander said. “Even though large portions of the city may not technically be in the forest, the fact that they’re close to the forest area increases the risk of wildfires spreading to those communities.”

Participation in the program is voluntary, but Alexander said that demand keeps rising. While Las Sendas is the only Firewise USA-recognized community in Mesa currently, Matheny mentioned that Mountain Bridge and Madrid are close to becoming Firewise USA-recognized communities.

“With those additional communities, that is well over 2,000 individual homes that are going to be doing self assessments, identifying risks and hardening their homes and community to those risks,” Alexander said. “That hasn’t been done before now.”

Fitzgerald-McGowan said the voluntary nature of the program helps especially in communities that might not have codes or ordinances available to them, but want to seek action to fire-proof their house. People who don’t want to participate immediate may see the program in action through other members of their community and feel more encouraged to join in, according to Fitzgerald-McGowan.

“The voluntary nature of Firewise USA has brought so many communities on board because they get to pick and choose,” Fitzgerald-McGowan said. “Not everyone has to participate, but over time, they see how it’s friendly and engaging, and helps reduce risk, and you get more people to come on board.”

Ultimately, Alexander hopes that Firewise USA enables residents who live in areas bordering wildlands and forests to feel more safe and comfortable.

“Our goal is for residents to feel comfortable living in these wildland urban interface areas,” Alexander said. “These areas do have higher fire risk, but that risk can also be managed ahead of time.”

For more information on wildfire safety in Mesa, visit https://www.mesaaz.gov/Public-Safety/Mesa-Fire-Medical/Fire-Prevention/Fire-Code/Wildfire.

For general information on Firewise USA, visit https://www.nfpa.org/Education-and-Research/Wildfire/Firewise-USA.