MISSOULA — When wildfire danger increases, it's important to know how to best keep yourself, your neighbors, and your home safe.
That's why Friends of Grant Creek worked with local, state, and federal agencies to create a unique plan for their neighborhood.
"About 17,699 acres. So, a lot of different forest environments, a lot of different fire environments," shared Grant Creek Wildfire Task Force project leader Mike Cole when asked to describe the area.
Over the past 3½ years, Cole and other volunteers committed to making fire safety knowledge accessible.
“The people live here in Grant Creek live in the wildland-urban interface. There was a lot of concern because this is a one-way in, one way out road,” detailed Cole.
“We wanted to develop a plan that they could reference and look at and be easy to understand and start thinking about all the things they need to do when they're living in this type of community and gets into what you need to do, not only protect yourself but also to protect your neighbors because you cannot do this alone," Cole continued.”
What came from the initial concern was a Community Wildfire Protection Plan specifically for the Grant Creek neighborhood.
“As volunteers, we went around to all the fire agencies to get buy-off and what we're gonna do. But once they were all on board with what we're gonna do then, we started working on this and we've kept the agencies in the loop," Cole explained.
"We got in touch with the University of Montana Fire Center, and the fire center vetted our document for us to make sure we had correct data and was scientifically accurate," Cole continued. The Northern Rockies Training Center, a couple of years ago, they did 160 home inspections."
Through home inspections and the Community Wildfire Protection Plan, people can see how to prepare their homes to survive fire seasons.
“What we're trying to do is get people prepared to have their property prepared for a wildfire by doing improvements to the home ignition zone, not having materials that are burnable up against their foundation, metal roofs in this type of environment," Cole told MNT. "If they're landscaping around their house, how to change the landscaping, building materials."
He shared that the Grant Creek Plan identifies key things that could make the difference between a small fire and a massive burn.
“As a result of a wildfire, what's there that could burn? What do you have for terrain, fuels, vegetation, access — access routes in and out infrastructure? Do you have power lines through here? Do you have water sources? What is the closest location for firefighters to arrive from? What do you have for aerial resources in the vicinity?"
The plan has an appendix that offers homeowners, landowners, agencies, and neighborhoods action items to get their fire preparedness started.
Even though this document is specific to Grant Creek, with the time, resources, and dedication, any community can work to adopt its own wildfire safety plan.
Cole offered, "If this was Big Fork or if this was Superior, you can put together a plan would say, where are the hazards in that location and what can we do to mitigate those?"
Click here to view the Grant Creek Community Wildfire Plan.
