In efforts to combat local property, structure and brush fires, several local agencies are offering free home visits to survey potential fire hazards and offer fire prevention methods to home and property owners in Yelm, Rainier and surrounding areas.
The Washington state Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Southeast Thurston Fire Authority (SETFA) and Thurston Conservation District have partnered together to launch the “Wildfire Ready Neighbors” program. Interested residents can visit www.wildfireready.com to sign up for the free home visit by a DNR, SETFA or conservation district representative. Though fire season is dwindling down, program members will offer the Wildfire Ready Neighbors program through July of 2025, as involved agencies signed a one-year contract.
Jesse Duvall, community resilience with DNR in Thurston, Pierce, Mason, Kitsap and Grays Harbor counties, said that the sign-up survey is a “quick and easy” 15 questions.
“They sign up, they check that they want to do a one-on-one talk with a professional, and that puts them into our system. I get all that information and then I sort it out to where it’s supposed to go in the county,” Duvall said. “So anything within Yelm or Rainier will go to Southeast Thurston. Anything outside of Yelm or Rainier right now, will go to the conservation district. They’ll call, they’ll make contact with the landowner, they’ll set it up and then they’ll go out and do the home visit with them.”
Duvall added that the free home visit includes a survey of the home ignition zone, including the immediate, intermediate and extended zones.
The immediate zone, which is the home itself and 5 feet within the home, focuses on potential hazards on the roof, in the gutters, plants below windows and any combustible material in the specific zone.
Program members conducting the home visits will also focus on the intermediate zone, which is 5 to 30 feet of the home.
“We’re looking to keep the intermediate zone lean, green and clean,” Duvall said. “We want as minimal vegetation as possible, fire resistant vegetation is always preferred, broken up vegetation, because we don’t want long, continuous fuel beds going, especially from a timber line or a field up to the house.”
The third region is the extended zone, or 30 to 100 feet within the house. Duvall said representatives will survey breaking up the continuity of fuel, eliminating ladder fuels and identifying branches, ground level brush or tree tops that could serve as hazards. The extended zone focuses on eliminating variables that could climb up trees.
“A lot of times when I go out to people’s property, one of the first things they say is, ‘Don’t tell me to cut down my trees. I love this tree. I’m not cutting straight down.’ I’ve never asked someone to cut down a tree for fire,” Duvall said. “Now, trees leaning towards your house, hey, that tree could be a hazard to your home, but it’s not a fire issue. I don’t want you to get rid of your trees. I want you to make sure they’re spaced out appropriately. Get rid of your ladder fuels, your lower limbs and protect the tree if it means that much to you, and we’ll protect it that way as well.”
While conducting the home visit, information gained from the survey will be filled out by program representatives and sent to DNR. After the information submitted has been confirmed as correct, results will be given to landowners to assess what needs to be done to prevent fires.
Kelly Corey, SETFA’s wildland coordinator, said this program is important to all involved agencies as SETFA has seen an increase in call volume. He added that there’s also been an increase in pockets of unestablished land that feature homes, properties or further undeveloped land between homes. He attributed hotter, dryer and longer summers, along with a lack of fire prevention knowledge, to the climb in fire calls.
“Basically, it’s unburnt material that isn’t managed by anybody. Those are becoming more and more prevalent because, as Yelm and Rainier become more populated, and the more and more pockets [are created], the more wildland urban interface that we have,” Corey said. “Everybody sees on the news there’s fires in eastern Washington, eastern Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Alaska, Canada. That happens here more frequently, just at a smaller level. It won’t necessarily be 400,000 acres, but it’s going to be 4,000 acres if we don’t do something about it now. We see the increased call volume out here.”
