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Fire Season Prompts Calls to Create Defensible Space

BEND, OR -- It’s time to get our properties ready for wildfire season. "Now’s the time to be prepared," Heather Miller tells KBND News, "We’re in wildfire season. In Central Oregon we’ve had large fires that start at the end of May, beginning of June. We’re getting thunderstorms coming through. It’s really starting to become that time." Miller is the regional Fire Risk Reduction Specialist with Oregon’s Office of State Fire Marshal. She was in Bend Tuesday, talking with homeowners about creating defensible space.

Miller says clearing debris from rooftops and gutters is essential, "It’s not the wall of flames that blow through a neighborhood that’s a risk, so much as it’s the ember shower that comes before the wall of flames. So, if we can get our house ready for those embers then we stand a much better chance of surviving a wildfire." She also suggests trimming trees and shrubs away from your home and create vegetation breaks in your landscaping. Miller admits not everyone wants to get rid of hazardous shrubs, "I think some people like having vegetation around their house and that feeling of seclusion, but there can be choices in how that landscaping is done." Those choices include purchasing fire-resistant plants. 

She also recommends helping elderly or disabled neighbors, because the more defensible space in a neighborhood, the more everyone is protected. Miller says it's all about holding off the flames as long as possible, if fire moves through your area, "It’s not so much that a house is a miracle for surviving, it’s that it was able to withstand the ember shower that came through. And the vegetation breaks around the home were enough where the house could survive the fire."

Miller says it’s also a good time to prepare in advance for possible evacuations. You can sign up for text alerts from your county at ORAlert.gov.

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