The Swiss Pine Lake community during a special ceremony on Friday, July 16 was recognized as a Firewise USA participating site. Firewise USA helps raise awareness for how to deal with wildfires in communities across the nation. Pictured during the ceremony from left to right is Jonathan Hartsell of Blue Ridge RC&D, Susanne Shafer and Charles Bierbauer of the Swiss Pine Lake community and Mitchell County Ranger Josh Miller. (MNJ photo/Ariana Maniatis)
The Swiss Pine Lake community has partnered with Firewise USA to help spread awareness of the dangers of forest fires in their community and neighboring areas in the county.
During a special ceremony on Friday, July 16, the community was recognized as a Firewise USA participating site, which came with a special poster and plaque.
Through the program, volunteers help others take preventative steps toward saving homes in the case of fire such as home hardening, which consists of making areas of your home such as the siding, roofing, porches and fences more ignition resistant.
Most home ignitions start when embers enter attics, crawlspaces, garages and gutters that contain debris. Home hardening addresses ember intrusion and home ignition potential.
Member of the Swiss Pine Lake community and volunteer Charles Bierbauer said many challenges come with living in lush areas.
“We live in this glorious natural environment, but we have to be aware of the inherent risks and dangers,” Bierbauer said. “If this is something we can mitigate with a little effort on our part, then that’s what we should be doing. This is a good way to deal with at least one of those challenges. We like being in the woods, but there are inherent dangers. You know, snakes and bears aren’t the only dangers here.”
Jonathan Hartsell of Blue Ridge Resource Conservation and Development and the North Carolina Forest Service both promote the program.
“The main thing is getting folks involved and thinking about fire burns, how homes ignite and what steps they can take to prevent home ignition and their land burning,” Hartsell said. “It’s a free voluntary program. There are a lot of places doing them because we are getting more and more fires.”
Susanne Schafer, a member of the Swiss Pine Lake community, said she believes that more people need to be aware of the surrounding woods in neighborhoods.
“We think of this as like a lush rainforest but within the space of a very short time, you can have drought conditions and great difficulties that can pose a danger to residents and they have to be fire aware,” she said.
Mitchell County Ranger Josh Miller is a part of the program and believes that it is essential for everyone to learn about fire prevention.
“The main thing with Firewise is mainly the reduction of fuels around homes, which in turn reduces the risk of catastrophic wildfires,” Miller said. “The community has taken several steps like clearing out brush around the homes and clearing out gutters, basically reducing fuel because a wildfire needs that to burn.”
Shafer urged people to educate themselves on how they save their homes in the case of fire.
“We are trying to educate our community,” Schafer said. “There is some helpful information on firewise.org and good steps that you can take to save your home in case of a fire, but you need to do them in advance.”