RUCH — “Adapt” was the word for the day amongst those on hand at the second annual All Things Fire Fair in Ruch on Saturday (March 9th, 2024).
Rich Fairbanks, a 32-year veteran firefighter with U.S. Forest Service and 20 years serving on hotshot crews, led a seminar on house hardening and defensible space, industry terms that refer to making the outside of your home and the land around it less crispy.
Fairbanks noted changes in the climate, specifically increased temperatures, as something that should motivate people to think about preventative measures.
“Whether you think the cause is sun spots, the burning of fossil fuels or your Uncle Bob, it is 2 degrees warmer. Some might say ‘So what?’ and turn their air conditioner up, but this increased temperature has a specific effect on wildfire behavior,” Fairbanks said, adding, “We can’t completely remove the reality of fires, but we can remove a lot of the fear.”
Clear skies and no rain enabled organizations offering information and networking to set up outside the headquarters of the Applegate Valley Fire District, along with a wildfire prevention equipment demonstration and educational activities and crafts for children.
JULIE ANDERSON / Daily CourierDuring a kid-friendly fire behavior demonstration at the Wildfire Preparedness Fair on Satuday, Sofia Maciel, education program coordinator for Southern Oregon Fire Ecology Education, lights matches standing on a board to demonstrate the degree to which environment and slope affect a fire’s behavior while Isabella Payne, 7, (center left), her mom, Jennifer, and Willow Lawrence, 4, (right) observe.
“Even when people have a different opinion on what needs to be done, this is a place where everyone has a voice and everyone can be heard to come up with a solution,” Brian Mulhollen, fire marshal for the district, said of both the event and of the fair’s co-sponsor, A Greater Applegate.
Megan Fehrman, co-executive director of A Greater Applegate, echoed Mulhollen’s sentiment saying that she hoped the fire fair would bring people together to address a common problem.”We want communication so there isn’t this ‘us against them’ thinking. Not ‘what are they doing out there?’ But what can we all be doing together,” she said.
The messages seems to have gotten through to 10-year-old Gracey McGlasson, who was busy making crafts and participating in fire experiments for children at the fair.
“Fire is dangerous, and we should have something around to put out the fire. But it’s not something we need to be afraid of,” she said.
Under a banner promoting “good fire,” Kai Dalgleish of the grassroots community group Applegate Partnership, couldn’t agree more.
“A lot of people are afraid of fire. But you can rewrite that narrative for yourself,” Dalgleish said. Applegate Partnership seeks to educate and equip people about the benefits of controlled burns on their property, among other tools for fire prevention.
“A good fire can be a beneficial tool to protect you from a bad fire,” Aaron Krikava said, also representing Applegate Partnership.
Other wildfire fuel reduction actions were promoted at the fire fair such as removing brush that feeds fires around homes. A skid-steer loader equipped with a special masticating head was being demonstrated at the fire fair by Dan Defenbaugh of Jungle Tamer out of Jacksonville. Defenbaugh showed how the equipment grinds, chops, and basically chews up brush or whatever is fed into it and then returns it all to the soil.
Mulhollen said a lot of people in the area have such equipment but don’t always know how to use it most efficiently.
The Applegate Valley Fire District has applied for grants totalling about $6 million to be used for this kind of equipment.
“I would like for us to one day be able to do this kind of work, masticating, for people in our community for free,” Mulhollen said.
For now, although there are some grants and nonprofits that will help, the majority of the cost of fire prevention measures for property or homes is at the property owner’s own expense, either in labor or cash.
Information and education were free though on Saturday, along with lots of hugs from Smokey Bear.
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Reach reporter Cara Denney at 541-474-3726 or [email protected].
Published March 12th, 2024 at: http://www.thedailycourier.com/articles/2024/03/11/front_page_news/news001.html?i=90719
