Because of its efforts to reduce the vulnerability of homes and landscapes to wildfire, Manzanita Village Cohousing has earned Firewise Communities/USA® recognition from the National Firewise Communities Program. The community worked with representatives of the Prescott Area Wildland/Urban Interface Council (PAWUIC), and the Prescott Fire Department to conduct a wildfire hazard assessment and develop a plan to address safety concerns. Residents then worked together to implement the plan.

Manzanita Village joins several other communities in the Prescott area to be recognized as Firewise Communities/USA, joining many other communities nationwide that have been recognized since the program’s inception in 2002.

To receive Firewise Communities/USA recognition, Manzanita Village met a rigorous set of requirements. The community completed the several activities, including conducting vegetation and fuel mitigation at various points around the perimeter of the community, working with local fire department to remove flammable vegetation from around their homes and other neighborhood structures, holding a community day during which Firewise information was distributed. In September, the community will host a small herd of goats that will continue the fire fuels mitigation process in their common-area ravine.

“Achieving Firewise recognition is not a quick or easy process. Manzanita Village Cohousing has done an outstanding job of creating a local Firewise Task Force and implementing Firewise principles,” said Michele Steinberg, support manager of the Firewise Communities program. “By preparing homes, structures, and landscapes before a wildfire occurs, Manzanita Village has dramatically increased the chance that homes and structures will be protected when a wildfire occurs.”

Working through the National Association of State Foresters (NASF), state forestry agencies support the Firewise Communities/USA recognition effort. The program is a nationwide initiative that recognizes communities for taking action to protect people and properties from the risk of fire in the wildland/urban interface. This program is of special interest to small communities and neighborhood associations that are willing to mitigate against wildfire by adopting and implementing programs tailored to their needs. The communities create the programs themselves with cooperative assistance from state forestry agencies and local fire staff.

Firewise Communities/USA® Recognition Program is part of the National Fire Protection Association, 1 Batterymarch Park, Quincy, MA 02169. For more information visit www.firewise.org.

See website for complete article licensing information.