The Cottonwood Fire Department and the Cottonwood Ranch HomeOwners Association discussed the department’s work over the last four years to bring the Firewise USA program into the city during the Cottonwood City Council meeting on Tuesday, June 17.
The meeting also celebrated Cottonwood Ranch’s designation on April 28 as the city’s first Firewise community.
Firewise USA is a program of the National Fire Protection Association that works with the state of Arizona to help communities reduce wildfire risk.
To sign up for the program, a community must form an action committee, conduct a wildfire risk assessment, create a three-year action plan, hold community outreach events and volunteer one hour per year per home within the community.
Cottonwood Ranch’s fire risk assessment stated that the HOA should “first, focus on fuel load reduction in the washes and trails. They are seriously overgrown and combustible. Second, focus on ignition prevention in the five-foot and 30-foot zones around each home in the community. Specific attention should be paid to fire ladders and debris removal from yards and gutters.”
The HOA subsequently changed its guidelines to allow homeowners to trim common areas to include trails and washes up to 20 feet beyond their property lines. Additionally they have held an open house information session and a pilot fuel removal project.
Firewise communities include the town of Jerome, Verde Lakes in the Town of Camp Verde, Firecliff Community Association, LaBarranca II, Canyon Mesa Country Club in the Village of Oak Creek and the Cottages at Coffeepot HOA in Sedona.
CFD Chief Ron Sauntman said that the Verde Valley “as a whole needs significant improvement with regard to wildfire safety” and that the area was “woefully behind” the Prescott area, which has over 40 communities in the program and is motivating CFD to enroll more local HOAs.
“Primarily the reason we have that issue is due to lack of education and traditional apathy that we’ve had throughout the area of the Verde Valley,” Sauntman said. “People have this idea that if I don’t live in pine trees, we don’t have a problem. And that is an absolute falsehood, and that’s why we’ve seen what happened in [Los Angeles] … fire danger exists with proximity of homes, not keeping your properties clean, not having good construction typing; all of those factors come into play.”
CFD is also in the early stages of vegetation management projects within the city focusing on trails and parks including recently having a volunteer day at Riverfront Park to remove brush, however CFD ultimately wants to expand to fuel mitigation at all city facilities.
“Our main focus currently is working on city property, but through the evolution of the program and through what communities are doing adjacent to us, we’ll be able to work together to be able to create better defensible space and property management … and hopefully that will ultimately be city-wide,” Sauntman said.
Cottonwood Ranch HOA Firewise Chairman Patrick Burkhart said that wildfire concerns and rising insurance rates motivated the members of the 527-unit community to join the program, who then logged nearly 2,000 volunteer hours in five months, hosted an open house, held two vegetation removal events and assessed fuel loads on trails and washes. They also trained seven “home ignition zone assessors” who have evaluated 30 homes.
“My capstone thought is that what took place in the council meeting will begin to spread across the community, and we can be ambassadors for the program,” Burkhart subsequently said, adding that another HOA had reached out to him about joining the program. “If we’re the only ones, maybe we’re helping ourselves, but we’re not helping anyone else.”
Firewise Tips
Firewise USA provides a simple checklist that homeowners can use to increase their safety against wildfires:
- ▪️ Clear easily combustible plant material such as needles from porches, gutters and the roof.
- ▪️ Repair loose or missing roof shingles and caulk any gaps on the edge of the roof.
- ▪️ Cover exterior vents and install a metal wire mesh one-eighth-inch or smaller to reduce entry points for embers.
- ▪️ Relocate items kept on porches or decks such as lawn chairs.
- ▪️ Replace mulch in plant beds with gravel.
- ▪️ Remove all ignitable items that are within 30 feet of any structure, from propane tanks to wood piles.
- ▪️ Properly dispose of yard waste and dead vegetation.
- ▪️ Remove low branches and clear plant material from beneath your trees.
- ▪️ Work with your neighbors to develop a plan for reducing wildfire risks in the community.
