Silver City earns national firewise recognition

Silver City earns national firewise recognition

23 June 2013

published by http://rapidcityjournal.com

USA — By reducing the vulnerability of homes and landscapes to wildfire, Silver City has earned the Firewise Communities/USA recognition from the National Firewise Communities Program.

Silver City worked with the South Dakota Wildland Fire Division, the Black Hills National Forest, Pennington County Fire Administration and the Silver City Volunteer Fire Department to conduct a wildfire hazard assessment and develop a plan to address safety concerns. Residents then worked together to implement a detailed plan.

“The Silver City community has come together in a great effort to increase protection from catastrophic wildfire. Silver City is now in a much better position to survive a wildfire due to the landscape scale treatment of hazardous fuels surrounding the area. This project serves as great inspiration to the entire Black Hills of the progress we are able to make through hard work and interagency cooperation,” says Andrew Tate, Wildland Urban Interface Specialist with South Dakota Wildland Fire Division.

Because Wildland/Urban Interface fires can quickly exceed the capacity of fire department resources, performing Firewise work is essential to increase the chances a home will survive a wildfire. The Firewise Community/USA Recognition Program, a program of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), recognizes the hard work done by the community members to become more fire safe, educate themselves and neighbors, and earn the Firewise designation. The objective of the program is to reduce the loss of lives and properties from wildfire through thinning trees and brush; selecting fire-resistant plants; using ignition-resistant building materials; and developing emergency plans..

For more information about Firewise programs you can visit the Great Plains Fire Safe Council website at www.gpfiresafecouncil.com or NFPA’s site at www.firewise.org.