Posted on 01/12/2018 3:45:47 AM PST by SandRat
FORT HUACHUCA — After more than a year of effort, Fort Huachuca is being recognized for its efforts to prevent wildfires.
During a short ceremony Thursday with Army personnel and fire officials, the installation was recognized as a “Firewise community” that has taken proactive steps to reduce fire risks. Fort Huachuca is the first Army post to receive this recognition and only the second military installation, after the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Both are now part of a collection of 1,479 communities across 42 states that have earned this distinction since the program was started in 2002 by the National Fire Prevention Association (NFPA) — a nonprofit dedicated to limiting the injury and destruction caused by fire. The Firewise USA program emphasizes homeowners lowering fire hazards around their own house and communities mitigating wildfire risks.
Tom Welle, a manager of the Denver Field Officer for NFPA’s wildfire division, said a community must identify if there is a significant fire threat, work with state fire management agencies, form a community board to address issues, perform a community fire prevention assessment, form an action plan and then work through NFPA’s application process.
And the end of that process isn’t a certification saying they have arrived, he said, but a recognition that a community has to renew every year.
Welle couldn’t say if any other military installations were trying to join Fort Huachuca and the Air Force Academy in having the “Firewise” title.
“Not to my knowledge, but this was surprise too,” he said.
Mayra Moreno, a fuels and fire prevention officer for the southeast division of the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management, told those at the ceremony there are 83 communities statewide that have received the Firewise title. Of those, only 11 are in her district, which covers Pinal, Pima, Santa Cruz, Greenlee, Graham and Cochise counties.
That’s the busiest district in the state for fire in Arizona, she said, with a reported 2,233 fires in 2017. That was slightly above 2016’s numbers, but burned 100,000 more acres.
“Wildfires are not going away,” she said.
To emphasize the Firewise program’s importance, Moreno said she was in California helping combat the state’s wildfires last month. While there, she noticed the houses that were burning were the same that could be found on Fort Huachuca.
Keith Read, a fire inspector on Fort Huachuca, said fire personnel on post has been working for more than a year to earn the Firewise status. A kick-off event with agencies between Sierra Vista and Tucson was held last June and the community board was formed in August.
Fort Huachuca was well on its way to earning the distinction when he found out during a summit last year that no other Army installation had already done so.
“It made it ‘let’s push a little faster, just in case,’” he said.
This recognition is important for the installation because of all the soldiers who come from parts of the country where fires are not as big of a threat, Read said. As one example, after 24 years of active duty, Fort Huachuca is his first posting where fire is a prime concern, he said.
Col. James Wright, Fort Huachuca’s garrison commander, said more than a year ago the post did a security evaluation and found wildfires to be the foremost threat to the installation.
With the Firewise designation, board members will now be at briefings for newcomers to talk about what they can do to lessen the dangers of fire, he said. The directive has also come down from Wright to go beyond this and each year provide a calendar that lists objectives the board wants to accomplish, Read said.
Now that the fort has earned the distinction, Read said he and others on post are willing to help other communities around Fort Huachuca take the steps necessary to become Firewise sites as well.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.