The Forest Gate Community has been earned a Firewise Communities/USA recognition for their efforts to reduce the vulnerability of homes and landscapes to wildfires.The community worked with the Black Forest Fire Department to conduct a wildfire hazard assessment and develop a plan to address safety concerns Residents worked together to implement the plan.The Forest Gate Community joins many other communities nationwide that have been recognized since the programís inception in 2002.To qualify as a Firewise community, the following activities were necessary.They conducted five meetings and open houses to educate the community about the Firewise Communities plan.All residents received specific guidelines for mitigation.The community sponsored a chipper day, where all residents piled slash on roadsides for chipping. Four Black Forest Fire volunteers and about 15 community volunteers spent a day chipping and hauling away chips.ìAchieving Firewise recognition is not a quick or easy process,î said Michele Stienberg, support manager of the Firewise Communities program. ìBy preparing homes, structures and landscapes before a wildfire occurs, the Forest Gate Community has dramatically increased the chance that homes and structures will be protected when a wildfire occurs.îCommunities interested in earning recognition can visit http://firewise.org/USA for more information.
