How To Protect an Entire Town From Wildfire

After their community was devastated by the 2018 Camp Fire, local leaders in Paradise, California are proposing to build a community firebreak that would encircle the town with a green perimeter aimed at deterring wildfire and protecting neighborhoods. 

As Kylie Mohr reports in High Country News, most fire protection measures are aimed at single-family homes on larger lots. These mitigation measures also don’t offer solutions for all types of housing, leaving out mobile home residents and renters, among others. “While there are some less expensive measures people can take to protect their homes, like clearing gutters of pine needles, which can act as kindling, most suggested retrofits are neither cheap nor easy — and that could leave some homeowners vulnerable.”

The community firebreak is “an approach that could protect entire neighborhoods, not just individual homeowners with the time, money and space to landscape their yards and retrofit their homes.” It “will also create space to build trails for runners, walkers and bikers. It might also incorporate techniques like prescribed burns and grazing to keep vegetation under control.”

The project, which calls for 16 miles of property surrounding the town, could cost around $30 million and serve as a model for other fire-prone communities. So far, “The parks department has acquired 100 acres of property to date, including donations from owners who don’t want to rebuild.”